m 

i , 

LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Deceived         JAN 11  1893   •  l89 
Accessions  No.  IIQ  Qi4  I  -    •  cla*s  No-  ' 


THE    DEAINAGE 


OF 


HABITABLE     BUILDINGS. 


PRINCIPLES  AND  PRACTICE  OF  PLUMBING.  By  S. 
STEVENS  HELLYER,  Author  of  "The  Plumber  and 
Sanitary  Houses,"  and  "Lectures  on  the  Science  and  Art 
of  Sanitary  Plumbing."  Small  post  8vo,  with  4  plates  and 
180  Illustrations,  5s. 

"  For  all  intents  and  purposes  this  book  maybe  described  as  an  illus- 
trated plumber's  dictionary,  and  should  always  be  'at  home  '  for  study  and 
reference.  It  is  invaluable  to  the  working  apprentice  commencing  his 
trade,  and  cannot  but  prove  of  considerable  assistance  to  builders,  clerks 
of  works,  foremen,  &c." — The  Plumber  and  Decorator. 


SEWAGE  TREATMENT,  PURIFICATION,  AND  UTILIS- 
ATION. A  Practical  Manual  for  the  Use  of  Corporations, 
Local  Boards,  Medical  Officers  of  Health,  Inspectors  of 
Nuisances,  Chemists,  Manufacturers,  Eiparian  Owners, 
Engineers,  and  Ratepayers.  By  J.  W.  SLATER,  F.E.S., 
Editor  of  "Journal  of  Science."  "With  Illustrations,  6s. 

"The  writer,  in  addition  to  a  calm  and  dispassionate  view  of  the  situation, 
gives  two  chapters  on  ' Legislation '  and  ' Sewage  Patents.'"— Specta tor. 

LONDON  :  WHITTAKER  &  Co. 


THE    DRAINAGE 


OF 


HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 


BY 


W.    LEE    BEARDMORE, 

ASSOCIATE   MEMBER  OF  THE   INSTITUTION  OF  C.E.  J   MEMBER   OF  COUNCIL  AND  HON. 
SEC.    CIVIL  AND  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS*   SOCIETY,    ETC. 


BEING    A    REPRINT   AND    REVISION    OF    A    SERIES    OF    ARTICLES 

WHICH   APPEARED    IN   THE    PAGES   OF    'THE    PLUMBER 

AND    DECORATOR,    AND   JOURNAL    OF    GAS   AND 

SANITARY   ENGINEERING.' 


NEW   YORK:    MACMILLAN  AND  CO. 

LONDON  :   WHITTAKER  AND   CO. 

1892. 

[All  rights  reserved.] 


PREFACE. 

IN  the  early  part  of  the  year  1881,  I  was  employed  to 
write  for  the  Plumber  and  Decorator,  and  Journal  of  Gas 
and  Sanitary  Engineering,  a  series  of  articles  which  now 
comprise  this  work ;  and  in  writing  upon  such  a  subject 
as  Habitable  Buildings,  I  elected  to  touch,  but  briefly, 
upon  what  has  been  done  in  such  an  insanitary  manner 
in  the  past,  and  to  point  out  mainly  what  should  be  done 
to  render  a  dwelling  thoroughly  sanitary  as  regards  its 
drainage  arrangements.  The  title  therefore  of  The  Drain- 
age of  Habitable  Buildings  suggested  itself  to  me  as  an 
appropriate  one. 

It  is  a  great  question  if  there  is  any  necessity  at  all  for 
a  preface  to  such  a  book,  but  I  beg  to  take  the  liberty 
with  my  readers  of  opening  this  edition  with  a  few  words 
of  a  prefatory  nature. 

For  many  years  past  I  have  made  a  special  and 
particular  study  of  the  Science  of  House  Drainage,  and 
that  fact  being  known  was  the  reason  of  my  being 
employed  to  write  this  work  for  the  above  Journal,  in  the 
pages  of  which  it  appeared. 

It  is  probable  that  I  should  never  have  taken  up  this 
subject  as  a  specialist  had  it  not  been  that  I  was  employed 
as  an  assistant  to  Mr.  E.  F.  Griffith,  Associate  Member 
Institution  C.E.  (so  well  known  in  connection  with  his 


vi  PREFACE. 

work  at  Oxford),  who  at  one  time  was  manager  to  that 
eminent  sanitarian  Mr.  Rogers  Field,  M.A.,  Member 
Institution  C.E. 

My  obligations  are  great  to  certain  gentlemen  at  the 
Natural  History  Museum  (British  Museum),  South 
Kensington,  S.W.,  for  their  kind  assistance,  but  this  has 
been  acknowledged  in  one  of  the  chapters  of  the  book. 

Some  critical  readers  may  maintain  that  I  have  neither 
gone  sufficiently  deep  into  the  theory,  nor  into  the  practice, 
but  I  trust  that,  at  the  same  time,  it  will  be  said  that  I 
have  made  a  hearty  endeavour  to  place  before  the  public 
what  should  be  done  in  order  to  have  a  truly  habitable 
building. 

I  beg  to  acknowledge  the  kindness  and  courtesy  of 
Messrs.  Dale,  Reynolds  &  Co.,  the  proprietors  of  the  above 
Journal,  arid  of  the  present  publishers,  Messrs.  Whittaker 
&  Co.  of  Paternoster  Square,  and  to  claim  the  indulgence 
of  the  many  critics  that  I  trust  will  read  this  book. 

W.  LEE  BEARDMORE, 

Assoc.  M.  INST.  C.E. 


7,  LITTLE  QUEEN  ST., 
GEE  AT  GEORGE  ST.,  WESTMINSTER,  S.W. 
December  1891. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

The  Air  we  breathe — How  and  why  we  do  breathe  such  Air — How 
the  Blood  is  cleansed  by  good  Atmosphere — Those  Gases  gener- 
ated in  Sewers,  &c.,  which  we  should  not  breathe — The  Danger 
arising  from  breathing  such  Gases — The  necessity  of  preventing 
such  Gases  and  Germs,  or  Bacilli,  entering  our  Dwellings  p.  1 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE   DISCONNECTING   MANHOLE. 

"The  Stoneware  Syphon  Trap" — American  Practice — Argument  in 
favour  of  a  "  Disconnecting  Trap,"  and  with  regard  to  the  Danger 
of  Gases  from  the  Main  Sewer  entering  the  House — Introduction 
of  Fresh  Air  through  the  House  Drain  for  the  purpose  of  Oxi- 
dizing any  Foul  Gases  that  may  be  generated — The  Stoneware 
Syphon  Trap — Demonstration  of  the  Principle  of  same — Liability 
of  the  Syphon  Trap  to  choke,  and  arrangement  for  its  Examin- 
ation— Chamber  known  as  the  Disconnecting  Manhole — Method 
of  discharging  Branch  Drains  into  Main  House  Drain — White 
Glazed  Faced  Bricks  should  form  the  Brickwork  inside  the  Man- 
hole— Syphon  Traps  sometimes  of  too  large  Diameter — The  same 
consequently  never  Scoured  thoroughly  .  .  .  p.  8 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE    MAIN   HOUSE   DRAIN,   ETC. 

The  Distinction  between  the  "  Main  House  Drain "  and  the  "  Con- 
necting Drain  " — Position  of  the  Disconnecting  Manhole — Com- 
pulsory Position  of  the  Disconnecting  Manhole  in  the  case  of 
Houses  in  Towns — The  Objection  to  Excessive  Fall — The  Practice 
pursued  in  laying  the  House  Drain  and  the  Connecting  Drain — 
The  Laying  of  Drains  generally  to  insure  their  being  Self-Cleansing 
— Glazed  Stoneware  Drain  Pipes — The  Reduction  of  Friction  in, 
and  of  Porosity  of,  Pipes  by  being  Glazed — The  "  Stanford  Joint " 
and  the  Joints  of  Glazed  Stoneware  Pipes — The  Selection  of  such 
Pipes — The  Danger  of  Cement  being  left  in  the  Pipes — Drains 
should  not  be  laid  under  the  House — Coated  Cast-Iron  Pipes — 
The  Employment  of  such  Pipes  gives  a  minimum  of  Joints — 
General  Argument  for  use  of  Cast-Iron  Pipes  under  House — The 
Geological  Nature  of  Ground  through  which  they  have  to  be  laid 
— Concrete  Bed,  &c.,  for  Drains — Glazed  Stoneware  Bend  Pipe 
for  reception  of  Soil  Pipe — Such  Bend  Pipe  should  be  accessible 
from  a  Manhole — Construction  of  such  Manhole — Branch  Drains 
— A  Manhole  to  admit  of  Inspection  of  same — Change  of  Direc- 
tion of  the  Line  of  Drains — The  Turning  Chamber — Test  as  to  the 
proper  laying  of  a  Drain — The  Enlargement  of  Syphon  Trap  at 
Spigot  end — The  Flap  Trap — The  Size  of  House  Drains — Formula 
for  calculating  the  Discharge  through  Drains — Drains  should  be 
Self-Cleansing p.  17 


CHAPTER  IV. 

AUTOMATIC    FLUSHING — SOIL   AND    VENTILATING   PIPE. 

The  Annular  Syphon— The  Soil  Pipe— The  Connecting  Soil  Pipe- 
Lead  and  Iron  for  such  Pipes — The  Ventilating  Pipe — The  Size 
of  same — Cowls  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  p.  26 


CONTENTS.  ix 

CHAPTER    V. 

w.c.'s. 

Disconnection  of  w.c.  Apparatus,  &c.,  from  the  House  Drain  and 
Soil  Pipe,  &c.— "P"  and  "S"  Traps— The  Pan  Closet— The 
Container  — The  "D"  Trap  — The  Long  Hopper  Closet  — The 
Improved  Hopper  Closet — The  Valve  Closet — Its  Overflow  Pipe 
—The  Safe- The  "Warning  Pipe"— The  Hinged  Seat— The 
Loose  Eiser — Situation  of  the  w.c. — The  Flush — The  Waste 
Preventer  Cistern— The  Screw-down  Stop-Cock — Cistern  Over- 
flow Pipes p.  34 

CHAPTER   YI. 

THE    URINAL,    SINKS,    ETC. 

The  Urinal  with  Flushing  Rim — Inspection  Cap  to  Traps — Auto- 
matic Flushing  of  Urinals — The  w.c.  may  be  arranged  for  use 
as  an  Urinal — The  Slop  Sink — Housemaids'  and  Butlers'  Sinks 
— Bell  Trap — Enamelled  Earthenware  Sinks — The  Space  beneath 
Sinks— The  Gully  Trap p.  43 

CHAPTER   VII. 

THE    LAVATORY,    RAIN-WATER    PIPES,    BATH,    ETC. 

The  Tip-up  Lavatory  Basin — Rain-water  Pipes — Their  Joints — The 
Rain-water  Shoe— The  Bath— The  Safe— The  Safe  Waste  Pipe— 
The  Area  of  same— The  Outlet  from  Bath— The  Bath  Waste  Pipe 
— The  Overflow  Pipe — Cisterns — Dustbin — The  Portable  Iron 
Dustbin  . p.  49 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

STABLES. 

The  Nature  of  Stable  Sewage — Flooring — Stable  Channels — Special 
Flushing  of-  same— The  Fall  of  Stable  Floors— The  Coach-house 

p.  56 


x  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   IX. 

DISPOSAL    OF    SEWAGE. 

The  Elvers  Pollution  Prevention  Act — The  Cesspool— The  Float 
Indicator — The  Overflow  Pipes — Removal  of  Solid  Residue — 
The  Straining  Chamber — The  Position  of  the  Cesspool — Surface 
Disposal — Shuttle  and  Flap  Valves — The  Objection  to  the  Dis- 
charge of  Crude  Sewage  on  the  Ground — Sub-Irrigation — Bed 
for  Sub-Irrigation  Pipes  —  Contour  Principle  of  Irrigation — 
Sewage  Meter  Tank — Sewage  Sick — Setting  out  ground  on  the 
Contour  Principle — Herbage  grown  on  Sewage-fed  Land — Tape- 
worm— Ventilation  of  the  Connecting  Drain  .  .  £>.  61 

CHAPTER   X. 

CONCLUSION. 

The  Preparation  of  Schemes  for  House  Drainage — Maxims— Rules 
for  Housekeepers  .  . p.  80 


UNIVERSITY 


THE    DRAINAGE 


OF 


HABITABLE    BUILDINGS 


CHAPTER    I 

INTRODUCTORY. 

The  Air  we  breathe — How  and  why  we  do  breathe  such  Air— How 
the  Blood  is  cleansed  by  good  Atmosphere — Those  Gases  gener- 
ated in  sewers,  &c.  which  we  should  not  breathe — The  Danger 
arising  from  breathing  such  Gases — The  necessity  of  preventing 
such  Gases  and  Germs  or  Bacilli  entering  our  Dwellings. 

THIS  question  is  one  of  the  greatest  import.  Although 
some  few  years  ago  it  commanded  but  little  consideration, 
its  vital  consequence  is  now  fully  recognized.  As  the 
inward  man  cannot  be  judged  by  the  outward  coat  he 
wears,  the  visible  exterior  or  interior  of  a  dwelling  cannot 
be  a  criterion  of  its  healthy  condition.  The  disclosures  so 
constantly  made  in  both  palace  and  cottage  on  the  investi- 
gation of  their  drainage  arrangements  tend  to  prove  this. 
Not  many  years  ago  a  nation  was  anxiously  watching  round 
the  bed  of  a  prince  afflicted  with  a  dangerous  illness,  caused 
by  the  poisonous  effects  of  sewer  gas ; — a  few  years  later  a 
princess  was  struck  down  with  serious  blood-poisoning, 

B 


2          DBAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

supposed  to  be  the  result  of  defective  drainage,  and  since 
then  how  many  princes  and  people,  peers  and  peasants, 
have  suffered  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  from  similar 
causes  ?  Can  we  wonder  that  this  subject  of  house 
drainage  receives  the  prominence  it  does  in  the  minds  of 
both  professional  men  and  the  intelligent  public  generally  ? 
How  many  diseases  such  as  diphtheria,  typhoid,  scarlet, 
and  other  fevers,  cholera  pestifera,  &c.,  if  not  actually 
created  are  provoked  and  aggravated  by  inefficient  house 
drainage  ?  Many  people  appear  to  be  expecting  a  visit 
from  the  last-mentioned  terrible  scourge,  and  perhaps  the 
words  on  house  drainage,  &c.,  referring  to  this  malady,  of 
the  late  eminent  author  of  Two  Years  Ago  (whose  novels 
were  always  written  with  some  good  object  in  view), 
may  be  here  appropriately  quoted — "It  is  hard,"  he 
writes,  "  to  human  nature  to  make  all  the  humiliating 
confessions  which  must  precede  sanitary  repentance  ;  to 
say — I  have  been  a  very  nasty,  dirty  fellow.  I  have  lived 
contented  in  evil  smells,  till  I  care  for  them  no  more  than 
my  pig  does.  I  have  refused  to  understand  Nature's 
broadest  hints,  that  anything  which  is  so  disagreeable  is 
not  meant  to  be  left  about.  I  have  probably  been  more 
or  less  the  cause  of  half  my  own  illnesses,  and  of  three- 
fourths  of  the  illness  of  my  children  ;  for  aught  I  know  it 
is  very  much  my  fault  that  my  own  baby  has  died  of 
scarlatina,  and  two  or  three  of  my  tenants  of  typhus.  No, 
hano"  it !  that's  too  much  to  make  a  man  confess  to  !  I'll 

O 

prove  my  innocence  by  not  reforming  !  So  sanitary  reform 
is  thrust  out  of  sight,  simply  because  its  necessity  is  too 
humiliating  to  the  pride  of  all,  too  frightful  to  the  con- 
sciences of  many." 

Before  proceeding  to  the  technical  portion  of  our  subject 
it  may  be  advantageous  to  consider  cursorily  the  reason 
why  it  is  unhealthy  to  breathe  the  gases  arising  from 


INTRODUCTORY.  3 

sewers  and  drains,  but  it  is  not  proposed  to  do  so  from 
a  medical  point  of  view,  but  merely  in  a  popular 
manner. 

In  order  to  do  this,  let  us  observe  what  composes  the 
atmosphere  we  should  breathe. 

The  globe  is  enveloped  in  an  atmospheric  sea,  indis- 
pensable to  life,  which  is  known  to  be  at  least  forty-five 
miles  in  depth.  This  atmosphere  is  a  mixture  of  different 
matters,  each  fulfilling  to  the  life  of  both  animals  and 
vegetables  a  marvellous,  awe-inspiring,  and  beautiful  office. 
Oxygen,  nitrogen,  carbonic  acid,  and  watery  vapour  are 
known  at  least  to  be  its  components,  the  two  former 
almost  constituting  its  whole  bulk,  whilst  the  carbonic 
acid  and  watery  vapour  exist  but  in  small  quantities. 

Oxygen  is  a  gas  with  neither  colour,  taste,  nor  smell, 
and  gives  to  animals  breathing  it  increase  of  enjoyment, 
their  circulation  being  quickened,  producing  finally  a 
state  of  fever.  When  combustion  takes  place  in  this  gas, 
the  process  is  greatly  accelerated. 

Nitrogen  is  also  a  gas  without  colour,  taste,  or  smell, 
but  is  almost  opposite  in  its  action  to  oxygen,  animals  no 
longer  breathing,  and  burning  objects  being  immediately 
extinguished,  when  placed  in  it. 

Carbonic  acid  is  a  gas  which  is  slightly  odorous,  and 
has  a  sharp,  sour,  and  acid  taste,  but  no  colour ;  as  in  the 
case  of  nitrogen,  animals  cease  to  breathe,  and  burning 
bodies  are  extinguished,  when  introduced  into  it. 

The  watery  vapour  is  a  result  of  evaporation  which 
takes  place. 

These  four  substances  are  always  to  be  found  in  the 
atmosphere,  and  are  necessary  to  life,  although  it  is  cus- 
tomary in  speaking  of  dry  air,  to  say  that  it  only  consists 
of  nitrogen  and  oxygen,  and  when  the  watery  vapour  and 
carbonic  acid,  &c.,  are  absent,  the  proportions  of  the  two 


4          DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

former  gases  in  one  hundred  parts  is  seventy-nine  of 
nitrogen  to  twenty-one  of  oxygen. 

Having  deliberated  somewhat  on  the  atmosphere  we 
should  breathe,  let  us  glance  at  how  and  why  we  do 
breathe  it. 

The  heart  is  situated  in  our  bodies  between  our  two 
lungs,  and  is  a  muscular  organ  consisting  of  four  chambers, 
the  two  in  the  upper  portion  being  termed  auricles  and 
the  two  in  the  lower  ventricles. 

Roughly  viewed,  there  are  two  classes  of  circulation  of 
the  blood,  the  one  being  the  "pulmonic,"  by  which,  as 
implied  by  the  name,  the  blood  is  circulated  to  the 
lungs  and  back  to  the  heart ;  the  other  being  the 
"  systemic,"  by  which  the  blood  is  conveyed  all  over  our 
systems. 

By  the  muscular  contraction  of  the  left  auricle  the  blood 
is  driven  to  the  left  ventricle,  and  by  a  similar  action 
of  the  left  ventricle,  to  the  extremities  of  our  bodies  by 
the  arteries ;  then,  the  blood,  having  become  impure  and 
charged  with  carbonic  acid,  is  returned  by  the  capillaries 
and  veins  to  the  right  auricle,  and  thence  by  muscular 
contraction  to  the  right  ventricle ;  this,  in  its  turn,  forces 
our  life  fluid  to  the  lungs,  where,  after  purification  by 
the  oxygen  we  inhale,  it  is  returned  to  the  left  auricle,  to 
be  once  more  circulated  over  the  system,  to  perform  its 
offices  in  a  properly  cleansed  condition. 

But  although  the  greater  portion  of  respiration  takes 
place  in  the  lungs,  yet  it  also  does  so  in  a  less  degree 
through  the  outer  skin  or  cuticle  by  the  pores  in  it. 

Thus  the  oxygen  we  breathe  is  carried  along  by  our 
blood,  and,  combining  with  the  carbon  and  hydrogen  of 
our  fat,  ultimately  is  exhaled  in  the  forms  of  watery 
vapour  and  carbonic  acid,  and  the  waste  tissues  and  matter 
of  our  system  being  oxidized,  pass  off  with  the  fluid  excre- 


INTRODUCTORY.  5 

tions  of  our  skin  and  organs  in  the  form  of  urea  and  uric 
acid,  &c. 

Therefore,  of  all  the  constituents  of  the  atmosphere, 
oxygen  is  directly  of  the  greatest  importance  to  animal 
life,  but  the  nitrogen  is  necessary  to  counteract  the  effects 
of  the  oxygen,  which  alone  would  give  us  but  rapid  life ; 
without  the  watery  vapour  our  skin  would  be  dry  and 
arid,  and  without  the  carbonic  acid  vegetable  life  could  not 
exist. 

Having  slightly  considered  the  atmosphere  we  should 
breathe,  let  us  turn  our  attention  to  some  of  those  gases 
we  should  not  breathe,  but  which,  nevertheless,  Nature  has 
ordained  we  shall  have  to  contend  with. 

By  the  decomposition  of  animal  and  vegetable  matter 
gases  are  generated,  and  the  following  are  some  which  may 
be  advantageously  considered  in  connection  with  this 
subject. 

Sulphuretted  hydrogen  is  a  highly  poisonous  gas ;  it  has 
no  colour,  whilst  its  smell  is  of  a  most  disagreeable,  foetid 
sulphury  nature,  and  is  of  a  sour  and  sulphureous  taste. 

Bi-carburetted  hydrogen  (olefiant  gas)  is  a  poisonous 
gas,  being  colourless,  but  of  an  unpleasant  odour. 

Carbonic  acid  gas  has  been  already  referred  to.  Light 
carburetted  hydrogen  (marsh  gas)  is  a  non-poisonous  gas, 
and  is  without  smell,  taste,  or  colour. 

Ammoniacal  gas  is  ^also  colourless,  but,  as  is  generally 
known,  has  a  strong  alkaline  taste,  and  stinging  smell. 

Excreta  and  sewage  matter  generally  give  off  all  these 
gases  when  decomposing,  which  process  takes  place  at 
different  times  in  various  climates,  but  in  this  country 
commences  in  about  three  or  four  days ;  excreta  from  a 
healthy  person,  although  so  offensive,  being  practically 
harmless  when  fresh.  But  when  we  consider  that  one 
gallon  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  mixed  with  one  hundred 


6          DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

gallons  of  air,  will  make  a  mixture  poisonous  enough  to 
kill  a  dog,  when  we  reflect  that  near  the  earth's  surface  in 
every  five  thousand  gallons  of  air  there  are  but  two  gallons 
of  carbonic  acid  gas,  and  that  if  this  proportion  were  much 
increased  it  would  be  injurious  to  the  health  of  animals, 
can  we  wonder  that  the  endeavours  to  avoid  such  gases 
entering  our  houses  have  resulted  in  the  important  and 
necessary  science  of  house  drainage  ?  When,  owing  to 
untrapped  drains,  leaky  joints,  broken  and  unconnected 
pipes,  ill- ventilated  soil  pipes,  &c.,  such  gases  escape  into 
our  dwellings,  can  our  blood  be  properly  cleansed,  can  we 
enjoy  good  health,  when,  instead  of  the  normal  atmosphere 
we  should  breathe,  we  inhale  a  mixture  of  pure  air  with 
such  deadly  gases  as  sulphuretted  hydrogen  and  carbonic 
acid? 

Does  it  not,  therefore,  behove  us  to  retain,  if  possible,  in 
an  unvitiated  condition,  the  natural  atmosphere  as  given 
to  us  by  our  wise  and  all-provident  God  ? 

But,  in  referring  to  these  gases,  we  must  remember  that 
besides  differing  in  nature  they  vary  also  in  weight ;  for 
instance,  carbonic  acid  is  heavier  than  oxygen,  which  is 
heavier  than  nitrogen,  the  two  former  being  heavier  than 
common  air,  whilst  the  latter  is  lighter.  Thus  a  question 
I  was  once  asked  in  connection  with  this  subject  of  house 
drainage  suggests  itself,  viz.  How  is  it  the  heavier  gases 
do  not  lie  in  distinct  strata  nearest  the  earth's  surface  ? 

It  is  a  fact  not  generally  known  that  a  vast  amount  of 
the  ventilation  of  our  dwellings  takes  place  actually 
through  the  brick  walls  of  them  ;  but  it  is  only  in  some 
degree  due  to  the  natural  winds  and  aerial  currents  that 
this  takes  place,  for  independent  of  these  there  is  a  grand 
law  of  Nature  which  governs  the  blending  and  inter- 
mixture of  all  gases.  This  law  is  known  as  the  "  Diffusion 
of  Gases,"  and  in  conformity  with  it  the  heavier  gases 


INTRODUCTORY.  7 

intermingle  with  the  lighter,  even  through  porous 
partitions.  Thus  the  poisonous  gases  of  decomposing 
sewage  matter,  if  properly  discharged  into  the  atmosphere, 
are  diffused  with  it  to  a  harmless  condition. 

Graham,  by  various  experiments,  demonstrated  the  law 
that  "  the  rates  of  diffusion  of  two  gases  into  each  other 
are  in  the  inverse  ratio  of  the  square  roots  of  their 
densities." 

But,  besides  the  danger  of  the  poisonous  gases  gener- 
ated by  decaying  refuse,  there  is  also  another  to  be  faced 
wherever  the  house  drains  discharge  into  a  main  sewer. 

Whether  the  cause  or  effect,  it  is,  I  believe,  still  a 
disputed  question,  but  I  think  the  medical  faculty  agree 
that  minute  germs  or  bacilli,  capable  of  transmitting 
disease,  emanate  from  the  faeces  of  patients  suffering  from 
zymotic  disorders. 

Therefore,  if  the  evacuations  of  such  patients  pass  into 
the  main  sewer,  is  there  not  a  danger  of  such  germs 
passing  into  any  house  drains  that  may  be  in  direct  open 
communication  with  the  main  sewer,  thereby  tending  to 
spread  disease  ? 

In  order,  then,  to  prevent  such  germs  and  the  gases 
generated  in  the  main  sewer,  sewage  meter  tank, 
irrigation  tanks,  or  cesspools,  &c.,  from  entering  the 
house  drains,  a  trap  of  syphon  shape,  consisting  of  a 
water  seal,  has  been  devised  in  order  to  disconnect  entirely 
the  house  drains  from  the  main  sewer,  &c.  With  this 
disconnection  I  shall  open  my  next  article. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  DISCONNECTING  MANHOLE. 

The  Stoneware  Syphon  Trap — American  Practice — Argument  in 
favour  of  a  "  Disconnecting  "  Trap,  and  with  regard  to  the  Danger 
of  Gases  from  the  Main  Sewer  entering  the  House — Introduction 
of  Fresh  Air  through  the  House  Drain  for  the  purpose  of 
Oxidizing  any  Foul  Gases  that  may  be  generated — The  Stoneware 
Syphon  Trap — Demonstration  of  the  Principle  of  same — Liability 
of  the  Syphon  Trap  to  choke,  and  arrangement  for  its  Examin- 
ation— Chamber  known  as  the  Disconnecting  Manhole — Method 
of  discharging  Branch  Drains  into  Main  House  Drain — White 
Glazed  Faced  Bricks  should  form  the  Brickwork  inside  the 
Manhole — Syphon  Traps  sometimes  of  too  large  Diameter — The 
same  consequently  never  Scoured  thoroughly. 

IN  England,  all  those  Civil  Engineers  who  have  made 
House  Drainage  their  especial  study,  and  all  those  who 
have  given  serious  attention  to  sanitary  work,  agree,  I 
think,  that  whether  discharging  into  a  main  sewer, 
sewage  meter  tank,  irrigation  tanks,  or  cesspool,  &c.,  the 
house  drain  should  be  disconnected  from  them  in  such  a 
way  that  the  gases  generated  in  them  shall  not  be  diffused 
with  those  of  the  latter,  and  they  further,  I  believe, 
concur  in  the  opinion  that  the  proper  and  most  suitable 
form  of  trap  for  this  purpose  is  that  known  as  the 
"  Stoneware  Syphon  Trap." 

In  America,  however,  this  view  does  not  appear  to  have 
gained  such  universal  approval ;  for  in  some  recent  articles 
on  house  drainage  by  Mr.  George  E.  Waring,  junr.  (who 


THE  DISCONNECTING  MANHOLE.  9 

by  his  writing  shows  the  great  attention  he  has  given  to 
this  subject,  and  his  vast  knowledge  of  it),  this  "dis- 
connection is  not  advocated." 

He  contends  that  "  the  trap  itself,  unless  the  course  of 
the  drain  is  very  steep,  and  its  flushing  very  copious," 
may  "form  a  seat  of  decomposing  filth,"  and  will  also 
"  set  back  the  flow,"  thereby  causing  a  "  deposit  of  foul 
material  for  some  distance  along  the  house-side  of  the 
drain  ; " — but  if  the  suitable  form  of  trap  is  employed, 
viz.  the  "  Glazed  Stoneware  Syphon  Trap,"  and  is 
properly  arranged,  and  if  the  drains  are  laid  with  a 
proper  fall,  I  think  there  can  be  little  chance  of  danger 
arising  from  the  employment  of  such  a  trap,  and  my 
opinion  is  most  positive  that  its  use  is  highly  necessary 
and  advantageous. 

Again,  he  states  that  "if  the  sewer  is  not  extremely 
offensive,  there  will  be  less  stench  coming  from  a  current 
of  air  flowing  from  the  sewer  without  a  trap,  than  will  be 
developed  in  the  house  drain  itself  with  a  trap.  The 
absence  of  the  trap  will  secure  a  pretty  constant  and 
effective  current  of  air  from  the  sewer  through  to  the  top 
of  the  soil  pipe.  Without  the  trap  a  sufficient  current 
can  be  established  by  the  use  of  a  well-placed  fresh  air 
inlet." 

But  is  not  the  presence  of  a  trap  required  especially  to 
prevent  any  current  of  air  from  the  sewer  passing  through 
the  house  drain  and  up  the  soil  pipe  to  the  outlet  at  the 
top  ?  Again,  it  is  true  that  a  sufficient  current  can  be 
established  without  a  trap  by  the  use  of  a  well-placed 
fresh  air  inlet,  but  let  us  look  at  what  the  nature  of  such 
a  current  will  be. 

When  a  current  of  gases  is  established  in  a  channel, 
there  is  a  tendency  to  create  a  vacuum  at  the  point  at 
which  the  current  arises,  and  all  gases  about  that  point 


10        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

rush  to  it  in  consequence.  Therefore,  if  there  is  no 
disconnecting  trap,  the  gases  of  the  main  sewer,  or 
whatever  be  used,  will  be  in  direct  communication  with 
those  of  the  house  drain,  and  when  a  current  is  caused  in 
this  drain  by  a  fresh  air  inlet,  in  the  absence  of  a  discon- 
necting trap,  not  only  will  fresh  air  pass  up  the  house 
drain,  but  the  gases  generated  in  the  main  sewer  or  what 
not,  will  do  so  also ;  thus  the  house  drain  will  act  as  a 
ventilating  shaft  for  the  main  sewer,  or  whatever  receptacle 
it  may  discharge  into.  I  fail  entirely  to  see  how  "  there 
can  be  less  stench  coming  from  a  current  of  air  flowing 
from  the  sewer  without  a  trap,"  for  no  sewer  is  entirely 
inoffensive,  and  if  the  gases  arising  in  it  pass  into  the 
house  drain  owing  to  there  being  no  disconnecting  trap,  it 
is  obvious  that  there  must  be  more  stench  caused  by  a 
current  of  such  gases  mingled  with  fresh  air  than  there 
would  be  from  fresh  air  alone  passing  from  the  external 
atmosphere  into  the  house  drain,  &c.,  by  the  fresh  air 
inlet ;  therefore,  I  consider  it  most  necessary  to  disconnect 
the  receptacle,  into  which  the  house  drain  discharges,  from 
that  drain,  with  such  a  trap  as  will  entirely  prevent 
the  gases  of  the  one  diffusing  into  the  gases  of  the  other. 
A  fresh  air  inlet  should  be  placed  near  this  trap  on  the 
house-side  of  it  in  connection  with  the  house  drain,  in 
order  that  a  current  of  air  may  be  created  throughout  the 
house  drain,  soil  pipe,  and  ventilating  pipe  to  the  outlet 
at  the  top,  and  that  any  offensive  gases  generated  in  the 
house  drains,  &c.,  may  be  intermingled  with  the  fresh  air 
current,  or  ventilated  to  the  outlet  to  be  diffused  into  the 
atmosphere,  for  the  purpose  of  oxidization. 

All  those  who  read  the  introductory  chapter  to  this 
series,  will,  I  think,  agree  as  to  the  necessity  for,  and 
importance  of,  such  a  trap  as  will  completely  sever  the 
gases  of  the  main  sewer,  &c.,  from  the  house  drain. 


THE  DISCONNECTING  MANHOLE. 


11 


Fig.  1  shows  a  "  Stoneware  Syphon  Trap,"  which  is 
tubular,  and  has  a  socket  sometimes  at  one  end,  being 
similar  to  an  ordinary  stoneware  drain  pipe,  bent  to  a 
syphon  shape  ;  this  trap  is  also  sometimes  made  with  half 


"SYPHON  TKAP"  wrTH  SOCKET 

(Not  bo  Scale) 


FIG.  1. 


the  socket  of  the  above,  and  with  a  branch  from  the  spigot 
end  as  shown  by  Fig.  2.  Inasmuch  that  if  a  liquid  is 
contained  in  a  vessel  its  surface  must  be  level,  if  water  be 
poured  in  at  the  end  D  (Fig.  1),  till  the  syphon  is  filled 
to  the  surface  DE,  that  surface  will  be  horizontal,  and  the 


FIG.  2. 


columns  AB  and  BC  will  be  in  equilibrium ;  but  if  more 
water  be  poured  in  at  D,  the  column  AB  will  tend  to 
increase  in  height,  and  become  heavier,  thereby  equilibrium 
will  no  longer  take  place,  and  the  column  AB  will  tend 
to  force  BC  upwards;  then,  by  the  force  of  gravity,  the 


12        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE   BUILDINGS. 

water  at  E  will  flow  down  the  drain  until  the  surface  of 
water  in  the  syphon  columns  again  assumes  the  level  DE, 
when  equilibrium  will  again  take  place  and  the  water  will 
be  at  rest ;  thus,  when  water  passes  through  the  syphon 
a  quantity  always  remains  to  fill  it  to  the  level  DE.  But 
if  the  syphon  is  always  full  to  the  level  DE,  then  for  all 
practical  purposes  the  passage  of  the  gases  up  the  drain  to 
E  will  be  barred  by  the  surface  E,  or  in  other  words  the 
trap  is  "  sealed  "  by  the  water  being  to  the  level  DE,  and 
the  amount  of "  seal"  is  measured  by  the  distance  F. 
But  owing  to  the  peculiar  shape  which  the  syphon  trap 
is  made  to  assume,  there  is  necessarily  considerable  liability 
to  its  becoming  choked,  from  time  to  time,  and  conse- 
quently it  should  be  accessible  so  that  a  man  can  at  any 
time  clear  and  clean  it  thoroughly.  For  this  purpose,  it 
is  usual  to  construct  at  the  house  end  of  the  syphon  trap 
a  chamber  not  exceeding  about  three  feet  square,  in  nine 
inches  thick  brickwork,  which  is  termed  the  disconnecting 
manhole ;  concrete  should  be  laid  in  the  bottom  of  this 
manhole,  and  a  straight,  open,  glazed  stoneware  channel 
should  be  laid  on  and  in  this  concrete,  forming  a  butt  joint 
•\\ith  the  house  drain,  and  being  bedded  in  cement  on  the 
socket  of  the  syphon  trap.  It  is  better,  if  possible,  to  give 
this  channel  about  an  inch  more  fall  than  the  house  drain 
has,  as  thereby  the  sewage  receives  a  greater  impetus 
before  entering  the  syphon  trap,  which  is  consequently 
better  flushed. 

The  concrete  should  be  brought  some  few  inches  above 
the  channel  on  each  side,  and  then  "  battered  "  off  to  the 
side  of  the  manhole,  the  whole  of  the  concrete  should  then 
be  neatly  rendered  over  with  a  smooth  surface  of  cement 
with  a  float,  "the  cement  "being  flush"  with  the  internal 
face  of  the  channel  on  each  side. 

The  concrete  should  be  made  with  good  Portland  cement, 


THE  DISCONNECTING  MANHOLE.  13 

and  it  may  be  well  to  state  here  that  it  is  advisable  in  all 
house  drainage  work  to  use  this  cement  for  the  joints  of 
brickwork  and  all  stoneware  pipes,  &c.  The  manhole 
should  be  covered  with  an  iron,  air-tight  cover  (such  as 
invented  by  Mr.  A.  T.  Angell),  and  a  stone  carefully  sealed 
down  with  cement. 

Immediately  adjoining  the  syphon  trap,  at  that  end 
farthest  from  the  house,  there  should  be  a  Y  junction 
pipe,  with  its  branch  pointing  to  the  manhole,  and  an 
inspection  pipe  should  be  fixed,  accessible  from  the  man- 
hole and  jointed  with  this  branch.  A  stoneware  inspection 
cap  should  be  placed  in  the  socket  of  the  inspection  pipe, 
and  be  carefully  sealed  down  with  Portland  cement. 

Thus  at  any  time  by  the  removal  of  this  inspection  cap 
the  connecting  drain  between  the  syphon  trap  and  main 
sewer,  (or  whatever  be  used,)  can  be  cleared  in  the  event 
of  its  becoming  choked.  For  the  purpose  of  clearing 
drains  of  any  stoppage  that  may  occur,  a  bundle  of  "Rods" 
is  employed,  each  rod  being  of  a  convenient  length  to 
enter  a  drain  from  a  manhole,  and  being  fitted  at  each 
end  with  a  screw  joint,  so  that  as  each  length  is  passed 
into  the  drain  a  fresh  one  can  be  attached  to  its  end  by 
the  screw  joint;  various  tools  can  be  fixed  to  the  first 
"  rod,"  for  the  purpose  of  either  pushing  forward  or  raking 
back,  &c.,  any  matter  that  may  be  blocking  the  course  of 
the  drain.  It  will  therefore  be  understood  that  the  dis- 
connecting manhole  admits  of  the  "house  drain"  being 
cleared  from  it  in  one  direction,  and  the  "connecting 
drain "  and  syphon  trap  in  another,  at  least  as  far  as  the 
extent  of  the  total  number  of  "rods"  when  all  joined 
together  will  admit,  which  reaches  about  one  hundred 
feet.  From  a  side  wall  of  the  manhole,  a  little  above  the 
concrete  batter,  and  communicating  with  the  inside  of  the 
manhole,  a  pipe  of  the  same  size  as  the  house  -drain  at 


14        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

least,  should  be  carried  up  to  a  few  feet  above  the  surface, 
this  terminating  in  a  wall  or  chamber  on  which  a  vase  or 
statue  may  be  placed,  in  order  that  fresh  air  may  pass  into 
the  manhole  and  thence  up  the  "  house  drain,"  soil  and 
ventilating  pipes  to  the  outlet  at  the  top,  thus  ventilating 
the  house  drain. 

The  current  of  air  up  the  house  drain,  &c.  (when 
properly  arranged)  is  nearly  always  found  to  be  very 
considerable,  but  in  the  event  of  there  being  a  down 
draught  into  the  disconnecting  manhole,  then  the  pipe 
leading  from  the  side  wall  of  the  manhole  will  be  service- 
able as  ah  outlet  to  ventilate  the  manhole ;  it  is  therefore 
wise  to  conduct  it  to  a  point  on  the  surface  sufficiently 
apart  from  any  approach  to  the  building.  Branch  drains 
may  be  conveniently  led  into  the  disconnecting  manhole, 
discharging  through  curved  open  glazed  stoneware  channels, 
into  the  straight,  open  channel,  on  either  side  of  it,  so  that 
such  drains  may  be  cleared  with  as  much  ease  as  the 
house  drain,  should  they  become  choked. 

It  is  advisable  to  face  the  inside  of  the  manhole,  where 
the  brickwork  is  exposed,  with  white  glazed  faced  bricks 
(especially  when  the  manhole  is  of  considerable  depth), 
for  such  bricks  reflecting  the  light  more  efficiently  than 
ordinary  ones,  enable  the  man  when  clearing  the  drains, 
&c.,  to  see  his  work  better. 

Before  leaving  this  subject  of  the  disconnecting  manhole, 
it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  refer  to  a  mistake  that  is 
sometimes  made  in  the  employment  of  a  syphon  trap  of 
too  large  a  diameter.  I  have  known  one  of  these  traps 
used  of  a  diameter  of  nine  inches,  the  diameter  of  the 
"  house  drain  "  discharging  into  it  being  also  nine  inches ; 
in  this  case  the  diameter  of  both  drain  and  trap  alike  was 
too  large,  the  consequence  being  that  when  a  closet  or 
sink  was  used,  instead  of  the  discharge  coming  down  the 


THE  DISCONNECTING  MANHOLE. 


15 


drain  as  a  good  flush,  to  thoroughly  scour  out  the  syphon 
trap,  it  only  trickled  through  the  large  drain  (although 
there  was  a  good  fall),  to  little  more  than  ooze  into  the 
syphon  trap. 

In  this  instance,  even  the  flushing  of  a  closet  did  not 
appear  to  be  sufficient  to  change  the  contents  of  the  trap, 
heavier  matter  being  deposited  in  the  lowest  bend  of  the 


x^/^*>!*^X'T»5!?^*>x?^^'5^^'^l^^^v^^^^^^^^5x^s5^ 

•^  ''^•.^•^.^'^•'••^^^''^''^^'^.y't''^^  S''f''/\£'f'/:>.i.'T/-.~  "f 

FIG.  3. 

syphon,  and  a  slight  film  collecting  about  the  surface  of 
the  contents  of  the  socket  end  of  the  syphon  trap. 

In  my  opinion  it  is  rarely,  if  ever,  (in  house  drainage 
work,)  necessary  to  use  a  syphon  trap  of  larger  diameter 
than  four  inches ;  even  if  it  be  essential  to  employ  a  house 
drain  of  six  inches  diameter.  I  think  a  trap  four  inches 
in  diameter  will  be  found  more  advantageous  when  con- 


16        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

nected  to  the  house  drain  by  a  reducing,  (from  six  inches 
to  four  inches,)  open  glazed  stoneware  channel  in  the 
bottom  of  the  manhole. 

If  there  be  a  proper  flush  from  the  closets,  through  a 
properly  laid  drain,  there  will  be  little  fear  of  the  contents 
of  a  syphon  trap  of  four  inches  diameter  not  being  flushed 
out,  and  little  chance  of  the  trap  forming  a  "seat  of 
decomposing  filth." 

The  sections  of  a  disconnecting  manhole,  shown  by  Figs. 
3  and  4,  may  assist  in  explaining  the  text  of  this  article. 


FIG.  4. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  MAIN  HOUSE  DKAIN,    ETC. 

The  Distinction  between  the  "  Main  House  Drain  "  and  the  "  Connect- 
ing Drain" — Position  of  the  Disconnecting  Manhole — Compulsory 
Position  of  the  Disconnecting  Manhole  in  the  cases  of  Houses  in 
Towns — The  Objection  to  Excessive  Fall — The  Practice  pursued 
in  laying  the  House  Drain  and  the  Connecting  Drain — The 
Laying  of  Drains  generally  to  insure  their  being  Self-Cleansing 
— Glazed  Stoneware  Drain  Pipes — The  Keduction  of  Friction  in, 
and  of  Porosity  of,  Pipes  by  being  Glazed — The  "  Stanford  Joint," 
and  the  Joints  of  Glazed  Stoneware  Pipes — The  Selection  of  such 
Pipes — The  Danger  of  Cement  being  left  in  the  Pipes — Drains 
should  not  be  laid  under  the  House — Coated  Cast-Iron  Pipes — 
The  Employment  of  such  Pipes  gives  a  minimum  of  Joints  — 
General  Argument  for  use  of  Cast-Iron  Pipes  under  House — The 
Geological  Nature  of  Ground  through  which  they  may  have  to 
be  laid — Concrete  Bed,  &c.,  for  Drains — Glazed  Stoneware  Bend 
Pipe  for  reception  of  Soil  Pipe — Such  Bend  Pipe  should  be 
accessible  from  a  Manhole — Construction  of  such  Manhole — 
Branch  Drains — A  Manhole  to  admit  of  Inspection  of  same — 
Change  of  Direction  of  the  Line  of  Drains — The  Turning  Chamber 
— Test  as  to  the  proper  laying  of  a  Drain — The  Enlargement  of 
Syphon  Trap  at  Spigot  end— The  Flap  Trap— The  Size  of  House 
Drains — Formula  for  calculating  the  Discharge  through  Drains 
— Drains  should  be  Self-Cleansing. 

ATTENTION  must  now  be  turned  to  the  house  drain,  and 
although,  of  course,  literally  it  is  all  "  house  drain,"  yet 
it  will  be  easier  to  make  a  distinction  between  that  part 
of  the  drain  from  the  soil  pipe  foot  to  the  disconnecting 
manhole,  and  the  drain  from  the  syphon  trap  to  the  main 
sewer,  or  whatever  it  may  discharge  into ;  therefore,  here- 

c 


18        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

after  the  former  part  will  be  referred  to  as  the  "  house 
drain,"  and  the  latter  part  as  the  "  connecting  drain." 

The  "disconnecting  manhole"  should  be  built,  if 
possible,  at  a  distance  of — say,  some  seventy  feet  from  the 
house ;  and  I  have  known  a  good  draught  up  the  "  house 
drain "  and  ventilating  pipe  when  it  has  been  situated 
about,  or  over,  two  hundred  feet  from  the  house ;  but,  of 
course,  this  is  too  great  a  distance  to  admit  of  the  "  house 
drain  "  being  efficiently  cleaned  by  the  "  rods  "  ;  however, 
in  the  case  of  houses  in  towns  drained  on  a  main  sewerage 
system,  it  is  rarely  possible  to  place  the  "  disconnecting 
manhole "  at  a  greater  distance  than  a  few  feet  from  the 
house. 

Now,  as  the  main  sewer  is  often  as  much  as  seventeen 
or  twenty  feet  below  the  crown  of  the  road,  and  often 
only  some  twenty  or  thirty  feet  from  the  house,  the  fall 
from  the  head  of  the  drain  to  the  main  sewer  is  necessarily 
great,  and  objection  to  excessive  fall  is  raised  on  the  score 
that,  the  sewage  flowing  at  a  high  velocity,  there  is  a 
tendency  for  the  solids  to  deposit  and  the  fluids  only  to 
pass  to  the  main  sewer,  &c. ;  again,  the  expense  of  deep 
excavations  must  be  considered,  where  no  advantage  is 
gained  by  it,  as  all  that  is  necessary  is  a  proper  and  suffi- 
cient fall.  It  is  therefore  the  practice  to  lay  the  "  house 
drain  "  to  a  proper  fall,  (to  which  I  shall  refer  hereafter,) 
and  to  lay  the  "  connecting  drain  "  at  whatever  fall  may 
be  left  between  the  manhole  and  main  sewer,  provided 
such  fall  be  not  less  than  the  minimum  fall  to  which  the 
drain  in  question  should  be  laid.  Of  course  there  may  be 
occasions  when  both  "house  drain"  and  "connecting 
drain  "  can  be  laid  to  the  same  fall,  or  when  a  sufficient  fall 
cannot  be  obtained,  and  to  this  latter  case  I  shall  refer 
later  on. 

All  drains  should  be  laid  perfectly  straight  from  point 


THE  MAIN  HOUSE  DRAIN,  ETC.  19 

to  point,  and  when  possible  to  a  good  and  true  and  even 
fall,  such  that  will  ensure  their  being  self-cleansing. 
When  a  drain  is  laid  of  four-inch  pipes,  it  should  have  a 
fall  of  at  least  one  in  thirty,  one  of  six-inch  pipes  should 
have  a  fall  of  at  least  one  in  forty,  and  one  of  nine-inch 
pipes  should  not  have  a  less  fall  than  one  in  sixty.  But, 
of  course,  it  is  not  always  feasible  to  lay  drains  to  these 
falls,  and  when  such  falls  cannot  be  procured,  recourse  must ' 
be  had  to  automatic  flushing. 

It  is  generally  admitted  now,  I  think,  that  in  most  cases 
the  glazed  stoneware  drain  pipes  form  the  best  and  most 
efficient  drains  for  house  drainage,  owing  to  the  truth 
with  which  they  can  now  be  made,  and  the  smooth  surface 
the  glazing  presents  to  the  sewage ;  the  process  of  glazing 
reduces  frictional  resistance  very  materially,  and,  no 
doubt,  greatly  diminishes  the  otherwise  porosity  of  the 
stoneware.  These  pipes  are  made  with  the  ordinary 
socket  and  spigot,  the  joint  being  made  with  cement 
luting ;  there  are  also,  I  believe,  various  other  patent 
joints  employed  with  these  pipes,  notably  amongst  them 
being  the  "  Stanford  joint."  This  joint  is  formed  by  rings 
of  durable  material  being  moulded  and  cast  on  the  socket 
and  spigot  of  each  pipe,  which,  when  brought  together, 
form  a  joint,  and  in  addition  to  this  the  joint  may  be  luted 
with  cement.  It  is,  however,  my  practice  to  use  the 
ordinary  socket  and  spigot  pipes,  with  a  Portland  cement 
joint,  which,  if  properly  laid,  gives  satisfaction,  and  I 
believe,  taken  all  round,  to  be  the  best  class  of  pipes. 

It  must  be  the  duty  of  the  engineer,  in  selecting  these 
pipes  for  use,  to  inspect  and  ascertain  that  they  are 
straight,  and  of  uniform  and  sufficient  thickness,  not  over 
or  under-fired  in  the  kiln,  so  that  they  are  not  too  brittle 
or  too  soft;  that  they  are  free  from  cracks,  flaws,  and 
blurs ;  that  the  spigot  fits  well  and  evenly  in  the  socket ; 


20        DEAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

that  a  good  joint  can  be  made,  and  that  they  are  thoroughly 
glazed  inside  as  well  as  outside.  A  good  pipe  should  ring 
well  when  knocked.  In  laying  these  pipes,  the  greatest 
care  must  be  taken  that  none  of  the  cement  is  left  inside 
the  barrel  of  the  drain,  as  thereby  the  danger  is  incurred 
of  an  accumulation  of  the  solids  of  the  sewage.  If  a  piece 
of  cement  is  left  in  the  sewage  channel,  a  small  portion  of 
solid  matter  may  catch  on  it  in  passing  down  the  drain, 
then  more  solid  matter  may  catch  on  the  first  portion,  and 
more  again  on  the  two  deposits,  and  so  on,  till  at  length  a 
very  considerable  obstacle  may  be  presented  to  the  flow  of 
the  sewage  down  the  drain,  perhaps,  eventually,  causing  a 
complete  block. 

For  the  purpose  of  cleaning  out  any  cement  that  may 
be  left  in  the  barrel  of  the  drain,  a  tool  should  be  made  of 
a  piece  of  wood  cut  to  a  chord  of  a  circle  rather  smaller 
than  the  circle  of  the  barrel  of  the  drain,  its  versed  sine 
being  about  one-third  of  the  diameter  of  the  barrel;  this, 
having  been  secured  to  a  handle  about  eighteen  inches 
long,  at  right  angles  to  the  versed  sine  and  chord,  should 
have  flannel  or  some  similar  material  wrapped  round  it 
and  secured ;  then,  when  each  pipe  is  laid,  the  workman 
should  pass  the  tool  up  the  drain  and  wipe  back  any 
cement  that  may  have  been  squeezed  into  the  drain 
from  the  joint,  when  the  socket  was  placed  home  over  the 
spigot. 

This  removal  of  superfluous  cement  is  very  important, 
and  is  one  of  those  things  which,  when  proper  super- 
intendence of  house  drainage  work  is  not  employed  (too 
often  the  case),  can  easily  be  neglected  without  detection, 
and  which  is,  no  doubt,  very  often  left  undone. 

If  possible  to  avoid  it,  no  drains  should  be  laid  under 
the  house,  for  should  the  pipes  be  faulty  or  have  leaky 
joints,  owing  to  "  scamped  "  work,  &c.,  the  ground  is  apt  to 


THE  MAIN  HOUSE  DRAIN,   ETC.  21 

become  saturated  with  the  leaking  sewage,  converting  the 
subsoil  of  the  basement  into  little  better  than  a  cesspool 
with  its  consequent  dangers.  However,  in  town  houses  the 
laying  of  drains  underneath  the  house  is  often  unavoidable, 
and  in  such  cases  the  use  of  cast-iron  pipes  coated  inside 
and  out  with  Dr.  Angus  Smith's  paint,  or  some  suitable  pre- 
paration, for  the  prevention  of  rust  and  the  eating  away  of 
the  iron  by  acids,  &c.,  is  to  be  strongly  recommended.  It 
is  indisputable  that  the  more  joints  there  are  employed 
the  greater  must  be  the  chance  of  leakage,  &c.,  and  as,  by 
the  employment  of  iron  pipes,  about  seven  joints  less  are 
used  in  every  two  nine-feet  lengths  of  iron  piping  than 
would  be  the  case  if  stoneware  pipes  were  used,  this  alone, 
I  think,  should  advocate  the  use  of  iron  pipes,  with  well- 
caulked  lead  and  spun  yarn  joints  underneath  the  house. 
But,  again,  iron  is  stronger  than  the  more  fragile  stone- 
ware, and  consequently,  in  the  event  of  the  house  giving 
away  at  its  foundations,  pipes  made  of  the  former  are  better 
able  to  cope  with  the  compressive  force  brought  to  bear  on 
them,  on  the  house  "  dropping."  For  similar  reasons,  the 
use  of  iron  pipes  is  to  be  advised  when  the  drain  is  laid 
under  a  road,  over  which  there  is  liable  to  be  heavy  traffic 
passing,  unless  it  is  laid  at  some  considerable  depth  below 
the  crown  of  the  road.  In  laying  a  drain,  careful  observ- 
ation of  the  geological  nature  of  the  excavated  bed,  on 
which  the  pipe  will  rest,  must  be  made  by  the  engineer, 
and  if  of  soft  ground  or  running  sand,  an  artificial  bed  of 
harder  substance  must  be  provided,  so  as  to  retain  the 
continuity  of  straigbtness  of  the  drain;  for  this  purpose, 
in  such  instances  a  bed  of  six  inches  to  one  foot  in  depth 
of  concrete  should  be  laid  under  the  pipes.  It  is  the 
practice,  I  believe,  of  most  of  our  leading  authorities  on 
House  Drainage,  to  specify  that  such  concrete  shall  be 
made  of  Portland  cement;  but,  in  my  opinion,  it  may 


22        DEAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

sometimes  be  made  of  blue  lias  lime,  which  will  be  found, 
when  such  a  bed  is  of  considerable  length,  not  only 
nearly  equally  effective,  but  of  less  cost. 

By  some  people,  the  use  of  glazed  stoneware  cradles, 
as  introduced  by  the  late  Mr.  George  Jennings,  of  Lam- 
beth, is  advocated  ;  upon  these,  both  pipe  and  socket  can 
be  supported,  and  no  doubt  there  is  an  advantage  gained 
by  keeping  the  joint  from  off  the  ground,  as  the  workman 
is  thus  enabled  to  better  get  at  it;  but,  all  considered, 
I  think,  if  a  bed  is  required  at  all,  the  concrete  one  is 
the  best.  The  soil  pipe  foot  should  be  connected  to  the 
"  house  drain  "  by  a  glazed  stoneware  bend,  of  the  same 
diameter  as  the  "  house  drain"';  and,  in  case  there  should 
be  any  stoppage  at  this  bend,  it  should  be  accessible  from 
a  manhole  covered  by  an  iron  air-tight  cover ;  this  man- 
hole should  have  an  open  glazed  stoneware  channel  run- 
ning through  the  bottom  of  it,  similar  to  the  disconnecting 
manhole,  and,  in  fact,  this  manhole  should  be  so  similar 
to  the  disconnecting  manhole — minus  its  inspection  pipe, 
syphon  trap,  and  fresh  air  inlet  (see  Figs  3  and  4,  Chap. 
II.) — that  I  consider  an  illustration  of  it  unnecessary.  It  is 
my  experience,  however,  that  in  the  majority  of  cases, 
people  rarely  have  sufficient  money  to  lay  out.  in  order  to 
have  their  drainage  arrangements  efficiently  carried  out, 
and  the  engineer  is  much  exercised  as  to  what  can  be  best 
done  for  the  limited  means  at  command.  In  such  a  case, 
in  my  opinion,  this  manhole  may  be  omitted  from  the  spe- 
cification, although  it  is,  undoubtedly,  better  to  have  one. 
When  there  is  not  one,  the  "  house  drain  "  can  be  cleared 
from  the  disconnecting  manhole,  and  should  there  be  any 
stoppage  at  the  bend,  then  the  water,  &c.,  would  rise  up 
the  soil  pipe,  and  consequently  considerable  hydraulic 
pressure  would  be  brought  to  bear  on  the  stoppage,  with  the 
result  that  the  blockage  would  probably  soon  be  removed. 


THE  MAIN  HOUSE  DEAIN,  ETC.  23 

When  the  "  house  drain  "  has  to  pass  under  the  house, 
no  branch  drain  should,  if  possible,  be  connected  to  it 
under  the  house,  and  in  cases  where  a  branch  drain  dis- 
charges into  the  "  house  drain,"  a  manhole  should  be  con- 
structed similar  to  the  one  just  referred  to,  in  the  line 
of  "house  drain,"  and  the  branch  drain  should  be  dis- 
charged into  the  straight  open  channel  in  the  line  of 
"  house  drain,"  through  an  opercular  or  straight  open 
glazed  stoneware  channel,  unless  the  branch  drain  only 
be  a  very  few  feet  in  length,  when  perhaps  the  manhole 
may  be  dispensed  with ;  such  a  manhole  admits  of  the 
branch  drain  being  cleared  by  the  rods  at  any  time,  in 
the  event  of  choking.  Whenever  a  change  of  direction 
of  the  line  of  drain  is  necessary,  a  manhole  should  be  con- 
structed at  such  a  point,  somewhat  like  the  one  at  the 
soil  pipe  foot,  only  the  open  glazed  stoneware  channel 
must  be  curved,  and  of  such  a  sweep  that  the  centre  line 
of  the  drain  in  each  direction  from  the  manhole  shall  form 
a  tangent  to  the  centre  line  of  the  curved  channel ;  by 
this  means  the  drain,  in  either  direction,  can  be  inspected 
and  cleared.  Such  a  manhole  is  more  properly  termed 
a  "turning  chamber." 

An  easy  and  rapid  test,  as  to  whether  a  drain  has  been 
laid  straight  and  to  a  true  and  even  fall,  can  be  effected 
almost  at  a  glance,  by  looking  through  a  length  of  drain 
from  one  manhole  or  turning  chamber  to  another.  If  the 
length  of  drain  has  been  laid  efficiently  in  these  respects, 
the  disc  of  light  visible  at  the  far  end  will  be  circular 
(the  size  of  the  disc  is  immaterial,  as  this  is  only  dependent 
on  the  length  of  the  drain  looked  through),  but  if  elliptical, 
or  otherwise  than  circular,  or  invisible,  the  drain  will  have 
been  irregularly  laid.  There  is  perhaps  no  simpler  test 
as  to  whether  a  drain  is  air  and  water-tight,  than  by 
blocking  one  end  and  filling  it  with  water ;  if,  after  being 


24        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

left  for  an  hour  or  two,  no  leakage  is  observable  at  the  joints 
or  elsewhere,  the  drain  may  be  considered  as  satisfactory. 

Manufacturers  make  the  spigot  end  of  a  four-inch  syphon 
trap  of  six-inch  diameter,  which  admits  of  a  Y  branch  of 
four-inch  diameter,  forming  part  of  the  trap,  for  the  re- 
ception of  the  inspection  pipe,  as  shown  in  Fig.  3,  and  con- 
sequently the  connecting  drain  is  laid  from  such  a  syphon 
trap  of  a  diameter  of  six  inches,  although,  perhaps,  a  smaller 
diameter  would  quite  suffice ;  but  it  must  be  remembered 
that  the  drain  enlarging  after  the  syphon  trap  will 
effectually  prevent  syphonage  of  that  trap. 

The  connecting  drain  is  often  terminated  at  the  main 
sewer  end  by  what  is  termed  a  "flap-trap"  ;  this  trap  has 
a  galvanized  iron  flap  which,  by  the  force  of  gravity,  falls 
on  a  seat  or  bed,  and  the  sewage  passing  down  the  drain 
to  the  main  sewer,  lifts  it ;  but  I  am  doubtful  if  it  is  of 
much  service,  unless  it  be  a  prevention  against  rats  enter- 
ing the  drain. 

Towards  the  conclusion  of  Chap.  II.,  I  refer  to  a  case 
in  which  the  diameter  of  the  drain  was  too  large  for  the 
work  required  of  it,  and  whilst  upon  the  subject  of  the 
drains,  reference  to  their  size  will  not  be  out  of  place,  as 
it  is  of  great  importance  that  it  shall  be  neither  too  small 
nor  too  large. 

The  minimum  size  of  a  house  drain  is  almost  univer- 
sally fixed,  no  doubt  empirically,  at  a  diameter  of  four 
inches,  the  reason  being  that,  after  use  of  a  closet, 
the  solid  mass  of  paper,  &c.,  would  probably  become 
wedged  in  a  drain  -if  of  smaller  diameter,  although  a  pipe 
of  four  inches  diameter  would  pass  considerably  more 
liquid  sewage,  at  a  good  fall,  than  many  houses  would 
produce.  But  whilst  the  minimum  size  of  a  drain  is  fixed, 
the  maximum  may  vary  in  accordance  with  the  size  and 
nature  of  the  building  to  be  drained. 


THE  MAIN  HOUSE  DRAIN,  ETC.  25 

The  following  rule,  of  which  Mr.  Henry  Robinson  is 
the  author,  I  believe,  may  be  of  assistance  in  calculating 
the  discharge  through  a  drain  : — 

x  =  Area  of  sewer  -r  the  wetted  perimeter  in  feet. 

/=Fall  in  feet  per  mile. 

v  =  Velocity  in  feet  per  minute. 

a  =  Area  in  square  feet. 

c  =  Cubic  feet  of  liquid  delivered  per  minute. 

v  =  55  J  x  +  21'.— 

c  =  V  +  a. 

Another  very  good  method  of  ascertaining  the  discharge, 
&c.,  from  a  drain,  will  be  found  at  Table  VIII.  page  49, 
in  Beard more's  Manual  of  Hydrology,  which  can  be  seen 
in  most  professional  libraries. 

All  house  drains  ought  to  be  laid  in  such  a  way  that, 
not  only  when  half  full,  but  also  if  only  about  an  inch  of 
sewage  were  passing  down  them,  they  would  be  self- 
cleansing,  and  any  water  discharged  from  a  bath,  sink,  or 
closet  into  them  should  pass  down  the  drains  en  masse,  so 
to  speak,  in  order  to  flush  them.  In  case  of  stoppage,  all 
drains  and  pipes  should  be  accessible,  if  possible,  without 
having  to  remove  ground,  paving,  or  brick -work.  &c. 

Glazed  stoneware  goods  are  easily  obtainable  in  this 
country,  and  notably  amongst  the  various  manufacturers 
may  be  mentioned  Messrs.  Doulton  and  Co.,  of  the  Lam- 
beth Sanitary  Engineering  Works,  and  Messrs.  Bailey  and 
Co.,  of  the  Fulham  Potteries,  London,  S.W. 

The  length  of  this  chapter  prevents  my  referring  to 
automatic  flushing,  but  this  subject  will  form  the  com- 
mencement of  Chapter  IV. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

AUTOMATIC   FLUSHING — SOIL  AND   VENTILATING  PIPE. 

The  Annular  Syphon— The  Soil  Pipe— The  Connecting  Soil  Pipe- 
Lead  and  Iron  for  such  Pipes — The  Ventilating  Pipe — The  Size 
of  same — Cowls. 

THE  automatic  flushing  of  drains  was,  I  believe,  first 
introduced  by  Mr.  Rogers  Field,  B.A.,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  by 
his  invention  of  the  annular  syphon. 

The  action  of  this  syphon  is  caused  by  pneumatic 
pressure;  the  syphon  is  constructed  by  a  pipe  A  (see 
fig.  5),  which  forms  the  longer  limb,  and  by  a  pipe  B 
closed  at  one  end,  which  encases  the  upper  portion  of  pipe 
A,  and  with  it  forms  the  shorter  limb;  the  syphon  is 
fixed  in  a  tank,  supplied  with  water  by  a  tap  or  other 
means,  as  shown  in  the  figure,  the  longer  limb  passing 
through  the  bottom  of  the  tank  into  the  trapping  box,  C, 
about  an  eighth  to  a  quarter  of  an  inch  below  the  level  of 
the  weir  D,  which  keeps  the  water  in  the  trapping  box  at 
the  level  E,  by  which  means  the  bottom  end  of  the  longer 
limb  of  the  syphon  is  sealed.  As  the  tank  fills,  the  water 
rises  up  the  shorter  leg  of  the  syphon,  and  on  reaching 
the  level  of  the  top  of  the  longer  one,  commences  to  flow 
down  it  over  the  lip  F,  which  causes  the  water  to  pass 
down  clear  of  the  sides ;  thus  a  quantity  of  air  is  displaced, 
and  a  partial  vacuum  formed  thereby  in  the  longer  limb 
of  the  syphon,  which  is  sufficient  to  create  syphonage, 


AUTOMATIC  FLUSHING;  SOIL  PIPE. 


27 


flushing  the  contents  of  the  tank,  to  the  level  of  the 
bottom  of  the  shorter  leg  of  the  syphon  at  G,  with  con- 
siderable force  and  velocity  into  the  drains.  The  sole 
licensees  and  manufacturers  of  this  efficient  patent  are 
Messrs.  Bowes,  Scott,  and  Reed,  of  Westminster,  who  will, 
I  believe,  readily  give  any  information  as  to  the  working 
of  this  syphon,  which  prevents  my  going  further  into 
details  respecting  it,  except  to  add  that  care  must  be 
taken,  when  erecting  one  of  these  flushing  cisterns,  that 


FIG.  5. 


it  is  fixed  "  plumb,"  for  if  not  the  "  seal "  in  the  trapping 
box  may  be  done  away  with,  and  the  syphonage  no  longer 
able  to  take  place.  Of  course  the  frequency  of  flushing  is 
regulated  by  the  supply  of  water  to  the  tank  ;  the  greater 
the  feed,  the  more  often  the  tank  discharges.  Amongst 
the  numerous  other  flushing  tanks,  the  one  made  by 
Messrs.  Doulton  arid  Co.,  of  Lambeth,  may  be  noticed ; 


28        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

this  one,  although  different  in  action  to  the  one  mentioned 
above,  is  very  similar  in  results.  This  firm  will  also,  I 
believe,  willingly  give  any  information,  and  a  tank  may  be 
seen  at  their  show-rooms,  so  fitted  with  glass  that  the 
action  may  be  more  easily  understood,  and  which,  perhaps, 
hardly  necessitates  my  explaining  its  working  here.  When 
automatic  flushing  has  to  be  employed,  the  flushing  tank 
should  be  placed  at  the  head  of  the  drain,  but  if  a  proper 
fall  can  be  obtained  for  the  drains,  a  flushing  tank  is 
unnecessary,  and  then,  if  possible,  the  soil  pipe  should 
form  the  head  of  the  drain. 

The  importance  which  attaches  to  the  careful  attention 
to  all  details  of  house  drainage,  does  .so  particularly  to  the 
"  soil  pipe "  ;  its  close  proximity  to  the  house  renders  it 
especially  a  source  of  danger,  if  not  fixed,  jointed,  &c., 
with  the  greatest  caution.  The  carelessness  with  which 
soil  pipes  are  made,  both  as  regards  the  material  used  and 
the  class  of  workmanship  bestowed  on  them,  makes  it  a 
matter  of  considerable  surprise  that  more  illness  does  not 
emanate  from  bad  drainage  than  is  the  case.  Wood,  zinc, 
earthenware,  and  wrought-iron  have  been  used,  no  doubt 
as  soil  pipes,  but  in  these  more  enlightened  days  any 
architect  or  engineer  would  condemn  such  use,  it  being 
now  admitted  that  the  two  materials  most  suitable  for 
use  in  a  soil  pipe  are  lead  and  cast-iron.  Lead  has  its 
superiority  over  cast-iron,  owing  to  the  smoother  surface 
it  presents  to  the  passing  sewage,  it  being  more  compact 
in  its  molecules ;  but  otherwise,  I  am  doubtful  if  it  has 
any  advantage  over  cast-iron  when  employed  in  a  proper 
manner  for  use  in  soil  pipes,  and  it  certainly  has  the 
disadvantage  of  being  more  expensive.  Of  course,  owing 
to  the  ductile  nature  of  lead,  which  allows  of  its  being 
bent  with  great  ease,  in  such  cases  where  the  soil  pipe 
has  to  turn  corners  and  angles,  its  use  is  to  be  advocated, 


AUTOMATIC  FLUSHING;  SOIL  PIPE.  29 

but  I  consider  such  cases  ought  to  be  most  rare,  for  if  it 
is  necessary  to  pass  a  soil  pipe  round  obstructions,  then 
the  w.c.  ought  to  be  removed  elsewhere  to  such  a  point 
where  the  structural  arrangements  of  the  house  will 
admit  of  the  soil  pipe  being  taken  ".plumb  down  "  to  the 
head  of  the  drains;  however,  the  money  to  be  laid  out 
on  the  drainage  of  a  house  will  not  often  admit  of  such 
extensive  alterations  as  this,  and  in  such  an  event  I 
should  recommend  the  use  of  lead  for  the  soil  pipe.  All 
soil  pipes  should  be  erected  in  a  truly  vertical  position 
outside  the  house,  and  fixed  so  as  to  ensure  their  being 
thoroughly  rigid  and  stable.  It  has  too  often  been,  and 
is  too  often  now,  the  pernicious  custom  to  fix  soil  pipes 
inside  the  house.  When  such  is  the  case,  not  only  are 
the  joints  less  accessible  for  inspection  probably,  but,  in 
event  of  there  being  any  leakage  at  any  of  them,  the 
gases  escape  into  the  house,  with  much  less  chance  of 
oxidization  before  reaching  the  inmates.  It  has  not  only 
been  the  practice  to  erect  soil  pipes  inside  the  house, 
but  actually  to  build  them  inside  the  walls. 

I  would  impress  on  my  readers  the  great  necessity  for 
careful  attention  to  all  these  seemingly  almost  needless 
precautions,  but  I  can  assure  them  that  it  is  often  such 
attention  which  distinguishes  between  a  well  and  a  badly 
drained  building.  In  using  the  term  soil  pipe,  I  do  not 
refer  to  the  connecting  pipe,  (although,  of  course,  it  is 
practically  a  soil  pipe,)  which  connects  the  vertical  soil 
pipe  and  P  trap  of  the  w.c.  I  shall  refer  hereafter  to 
this  pipe  as  the  "  connecting  soil  pipe."  No  soil  pipe 
should,  in  my  opinion,  be  less  than  four  inches  in 
diameter,  and  it  very  rarely  occurs  that  it  need  be  more 
than  four  inches,  if  ever. 

A  disadvantage  attaching  to  the  use  of  leaden  soil  pipes 
is  that  rats  will  sometimes  gnaw  holes  in  them,  thus 


30        DEAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

causing  leakage.  If  lead  be  selected  as  the  material 
to  be  used,  the  drawn  lead  soil  pipe  should  be  adopted, 
and  not  the  piping  made  from  sheet  lead  with  a  soldered 
seam  all  the  way  down  it,  it  being  an  admitted  fact  that, 
the  solder  being  of  a  soft  nature,  such  piping  is  more 
perishable.  Drawn  lead  soil  pipe  may  be  obtained,  I  be- 
lieve, in  lengths  of  twelve  feet,  the  weight  generally  used 
being  seven  pounds  to  the  superficial  foot,  which  lengths 
should  be  joined  together  by  carefully-made  "  wiped 
joints,"  this  class  of  joint  being  the  one  which  should 
be  used  throughout  in  such  work.  About  the  point 
where  the  vertical  soil  pipe  passes  into  the  house,  a  Y 
junction  should  be  fixed,  with  one  limb  pointing  vertically 
upwards,  to  be  continued  as  the  ventilating  pipe,  and  the 
other  pointing  into  the  house  to  be  jointed  to  the  "  con- 
necting soil  pipe,"  as  shown  in  cast-iron  in  Fig.  6  ;  these 
Y  junctions  are  now  made  in  cast-lead,  arid  are  extensively 
used,  I  believe. 

Exception  is  taken  to  cast-iron  for  soil  pipes  on  the 
score  of  corrosion,  but  this  may  be  avoided,  at  any  rate 
for  some  time,  if  the  pipes  are  properly  coated  inside  and 
outside  with  Dr.  Angus  Smith's  or  some  similar  pre- 
paration, or  if  galvanized ;  there  is  also  the  treatment 
known  as  the  Bower-Barff  process  for  preventing  rust; 
but  I  have  lately  been  informed  that  after  a  time  iron 
so  treated,  scales,  flakes  of  the  parts  acted  on  by  the 
process  coming  away.  Whether  this  is  so  or  not  I  cannot 
testify  to,  from  practical  experience. 

Iron  soil  pipes  should  not  he  fixed  unless  treated  in 
some  way  for  the  prevention  of  corrosion  both  inside  and 
outside.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  best  class  of  joint 
for  iron  socket  and  Spigot  pipes  for  sanitary  work  is  that 
made  by  caulking  tow  down  into  the  bottom  of  the  socket, 
and  then  running  the  socket  of  the  pipe  full  of  lead  and 


AUTOMATIC  FLUSHING;  SOIL  PIPE. 


31 


then  caulking  that  well  home.  I  believe  the  iron  filings 
and  sal  ammoniac  joint  is  also  resorted  to  sometimes,  but 
I  give  preference  to  the  former.  Such  joints  should  not 
be  made  with  Portland  cement  or  red-lead. 


FIG.  6. 


A  cast-iron  Y  junction  pipe  should  be  jointed  to  the 
vertical  iron  soil  pipe,  as  shown  in  Fig.  6,  to  connect 
it  with  the  "  connecting  soil  pipe,"  which  should  be  made 
of  lead. 


32        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

I  believe  the  most  common  method  of  making  the  joint 
of  the  "  connecting  soil  pipe "  with  the  cast-iron  Y 
junction,  is  by  caulking  home  tow  or  some  fibrous  sub- 
stance in  the  bottom  of  the  socket  and  then  filling  it 
in  with  red-lead. 

A  much  better,  but  far  more  costly  joint  may  be  made 
by  a  brass  ferrule  being  fastened  on  the  end  of  the 
"connecting  soil  pipe,"  by  a  wiped  joint,  and  caulked 
with  lead  in  the  iron  socket.  The  "  connecting  soil  pipe  " 
should  be  attached  to  the  P  trap  by  a  wiped  joint.  From 
the  vertical  limb  of  the  Y  junction  pipe,  a  pipe  should  be 
carried  up  vertically  to  at  least  six  feet  above  the  eaves 
of  the  house,  of  the  same  diameter  as  the  vertical  soil 
pipe,  and  of  the  same  material  (the  joints  being  made 
as  described  above  respectively),  in  order  to  form  a  venti- 
lating pipe  to  the  soil  pipe  and  drains.  It  should  be 
arranged  that  the  ventilating  pipe  should  be  removed 
as  far  as  possible  from  any  chimneys,  windows,  or  openings 
in  the  roof,  or  carried  at  least  nine  feet  above  such. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  a  current  of  fresh  air  can  be 
established  right  through  the  drains  and  soil  pipe,  from 
the  fresh  air  inlet  at  the  disconnecting  manhole  to  the 
top  of  the  ventilating  pipe.  Great  importance  attaches 
to  having  this  ventilating  pipe  of  sufficient  size.  It  is 
often  the  custom  to  continue  the  soil  pipe  upwards  as 
a  ventilating  pipe  only  half  the  diameter  of  the  soil 
pipe,  (or  even  less).  But  recently,  I  had  great  trouble 
in  convincing  a  gentleman  (even  if  I  have  now  done 
so,  although  he  adopted  my  suggestions)  that  a  pipe,  if 
I  remember  rightly,  about  three-quarters  of  an  inch 
diameter  of  wrought-iron  gas  barrel,  carried  up  from 
the  stoneware  drain  quite  away  from  the  soil  pipe  was 
insufficient  and  incorrect;  such  a  pipe  was  fixed  in  a 
wrong  place,  was  too  small,  and  probably  blocked  with 


AUTOMATIC  FLUSHING;  SOIL  PIPE.  33 

dirt  and  rust.  It  is  well  to  test  any  piping  that  comes 
on  the  site,  for  use  as  soil  piping,  by  blocking  one  end 
of  a  length,  and  standing  the  pipe  upright  on  the  blocked 
end,  filling  it  with  water,  and  watching  for  any  leakage 
there  may  be,  and  having  done  this,  unblocking  the  end 
and  doing  the  same  with  the  other  end.  Some  people 
advocate  a  cowl  being  fixed  on  the  top  of  the  ventilating 
pipe,  but  most  of  our  leading  sanitary  experts  have  now, 
I  believe,  discarded  its  use.  A  short  time  ago,  discussing 
this  question  with  one  of  a  large  and  well-known  firm  of 
manufacturers  of  sanitary  appliances,  I  asked  him  if  he 
would  guarantee  their  cowl  to  pump  air?  He  replied, 
"  No ;  but  I'll  guarantee  it  will  not  admit  a  down  draught." 

There  should  be  no  persistent  down  draught  in  properly- 
arranged  drains ;  if  there  is,  I  should  say  use  a  cowl,  but 
think  more  than  a  cowl  would  be  required  in  such  a 
case,  for  if  there  is  a  tendency  to  down  draughts  it  is 
most  probably  due  to  badly-arranged  drainage  and  venti- 
lation, which  should  be  re-arranged,  cowl  or  no  cowl. 

For  a  proper  system  of  drainage,  no  cowl,  in  my  opinion, 
should  be  necessary.  In  order,  however,  to  prevent  birds 
building  their  nests  in  and  blocking  the  ventilating  pipe, 
it  is  well  to  finish  it  with  a  wire  "  balloon,"  which  should 
be  of  an  open  area,  rather  larger  than  that  of  the  pipe. 


CHAPTER  V. 

"w.c.'s." 

Disconnection  of  w.c.  Apparatus,  &c.,  from  the  House  Drain  and 
Soil  Pipe,  &c.— "P"  and  "S"  Traps— The  Pan  Closet— The 
Container— The  "D"  Trap— The  Long  Hopper  Closet— The 
Improved  Hopper  Closet — The  Valve  Closet — Its  Overflow  Pipe 
—The  Safe-The  "Warning  Pipe"— The  Hinged  Seat— The 
Loose  Riser— Situation  of  the  w.c.— The  Flush— The  Waste 
Preventer  Cistern — The  Screw-down  Stop-Cock — Cistern  Over- 
flow Pipes. 

IN  the  same  way  that  it  is  necessary  to  separate  the  house 
drain  from  the  main  sewer  by  the  syphon  trap,  so  it  is 
essential  to  disconnect  the  w.c.  apparatus,  rain-water 
pipes,  sinks,  bath,  lavatory,  &c.,  from  the  house  drain, 
its  branches  and  soil  pipe,  by  suitable  traps. 

Experience  has  shown  that  the  form  such  traps  should 
assume  should  be  of  a  s}Tphon  nature,  of  which  such  class 
of  traps  known  as  the  P  and  S  for  use  in  disconnecting 
the  soil  pipe  and  drain  from  the  w.c.  apparatus  are  the 
result. 

The  P  trap  is  the  more  preferable  one  for  this  purpose 
when  it  can  be  used ;  it  has  been  shown,  I  think,  in 
Chap.  II.  how  effectual  the  syphon  form  of  trap  is,  and 
it  will  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  remark  that  nearly 
all  traps  employed  in  house  drainage  work  should,  when 
possible,  assume  this  shape. 

A  P  trap  may  be  described  as  a  pipe  bent  to  the  shape, 


W.C.'S.  35 

as  shown  in  Fig.  6  (p.  31),  under  the  floor,  fixed  between 
the  w.c.  apparatus  and  connecting  soil  pipe.  It  will  be 
seen  that  the  form  of  it  presents  a  passage  through  it, 
having  practically  a  circular  section  throughout,  free  from 
angles,  obstructions,  or  even  very  sharp  bends,  so  that 
sewage  matter  is  unlikely  to  be  arrested  or  lodged  in 
it,  and  admitting  the  flush  to  pass  through  in  a  body. 

For  servants'  w.c.'s  on  the  ground,  such  traps  are 
usually  made  of  stoneware,  but  for  valve  or  other  w.c.'s 
(unless  the  basin  and  trap  are  in  one  piece),  they  are  more 
generally  made  in  lead. 

The  various  kinds  of  W.C.  apparatus  are  so  numerous, 
many  of  them  most  undesirable  from  a  sanitary  aspect, 
that  to  discuss  all  their  merits  and  demerits  might  alone 
easily  fill  more  than  one  chapter,  if  not  a  volume.  The 
majority  of  them  are  unworthy  of  notice,  and  their  use 
is  to  be  deprecated,  chief  amongst  them  being  the  still 
much  used,  but  excessively  filthy,  pan-closet.  As  nearly 
every  one  who  has  taken  up  a  pen  of  late  years  on  the 
subject  of  house  drainage  has  described  this  baneful  class 
of  apparatus,  pointed  out  its  defects,  and  condemned  its 
use,  it  appears  to  me  almost  superfluous  to  give  a  descrip- 
tion of  it  here,  although  its  much-continued  use  sorely 
tempts  one  to  give  an  illustration  of  it,  and  point  out 
its  defects  yet  again.  I  will,  however,  content  myself 
with  one  or  two  remarks  on  it.  Amongst  the  objections 
to  this  disgusting  w.c.  apparatus,  the  chief  is  due  to 
that  part  of  it  known  as  the  container ;  this  is  a  receptacle 
into  which  the  contents  of  the  pan,  on  its  being  lowered, 
are  shot,  the  consequence  being  that  in  time  a  large 
portion  of  the  internal  surface  of  the  container  becomes 
coated  with  soil.  This  collection  gives  off  obnoxious  gases, 
which,  whenever  the  pan  is  lowered,  rise  into  the  house 
and  face  of  the  user,  and  in  the  course  of  a  year  or  two 


36        DBAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

this  becomes  such  an  intolerable  nuisance  that,  in  the 
better  class  of  houses,  the  apparatus  has  to  be  taken  to 
pieces  and  the  container  cleaned  and  repainted — its 
contents  being  first  burnt  out.  This  can  only  be  done 
at  a  cost,  I  should  say,  of  about  £1.  Yet  people  prefer 
to  go  on  paying  this  sum  once  in  every  year,  or  two  years, 
rather  than  expend  from  £6  to  £8,  once  for  all,  in  having 
a  wholesome  valve  closet  and  P  trap  fixed,  and  avoid  an 
inconvenience,  risk  of  danger,  and  expenditure  of  the 
equivalent  of  from  ten  to  twenty  per  centum  per  annum 
on  the  capital  they  would  thus  invest.  I  think  it  un- 
necessary to  say  more,  except  that  long  ago  this  class 
of  w.c.  apparatus  has  been  condemned  by  sanitary  experts 
as  dangerous  and  filthy,  and  I  can  corroborate  this  con- 
demnation. It  is  in  connection  with  these  pan-closets 
that  D  traps  have  been  so  much  used.  A  pan-closet, 
when  fitted  with  a  P  trap,  is  insanitary  enough,  but 
when  a  D  trap  is  employed  it  is  a  filthy  and  insanitary 
arrangement  in  the  extreme.  This  trap  may  be  charac- 
terized as  being  in  effect  a  small  cesspool. 

It  is  a  very  deleterious  form  of  trap,  as  it  admits  of 
a  gradual  accumulation  of  sewage  matter,  which  the  flush 
of  water  coming  from  the  w.c.  apparatus  cannot  displace ; 
under  no  circumstances  should  one  be  used. 

In  most  houses  where  the  pan-closet  is  found  in  use 
up-stairs,  a  class  of  closet  known  as  the  Long  Hopper 
closet  is  found  on  the  ground  floor  or  basement  for  the 
use  of  servants.  This  apparatus  is  almost  as  disgusting 
and  filthy  as  the  pan-closet,  although  perhaps  not  quite 
so  dangerous;  with  the  cistern  fixed  only  a  few  feet 
above  this  apparatus,  supplying  the  water  probably  through 
a  pipe  of  too  small  a  diameter,  the  flush  is  inadequate, 
which  being  admitted  at  one  side  of  the  basin,  flows 
round  and  round  it  in  such  a  manner  that  instead  of 


W.C.'S.  37 

dislodging  the  contents  of  the  trap  they  are  only  whirled 
round  it.  This  w.c.  apparatus  should  never  be  used. 
The  best  kind  of  w.c.  apparatus  for  servants'  use  is  the 
Hopper,  of  improved  shape,  with  a  flushing  rim,  which 
admits  the  water  all  round  the  basin  almost  at  once, 
in  such  a  way  as  to  thoroughly  scour  the  internal  face 
of  the  basin,  and  keep  it  clean,  and  completely  remove 
its  contents. 

This  w.c.  basin  should  be  trapped  by  a  stoneware  "  P  " 
or  "  S "  trap,  jointed  carefully  to  the  basin  by  cement. 
All  w.c.'s  for  other  use  in  an  ordinary  house  should,  in 
my  opinion,  be  fitted  with  that  type  of  apparatus  called 
the  Valve  w.c.  In  this  there  is  a  valve,  from  which  it 
takes  its  name,  just  below  the  foot  of  the  basin,  which 
is  lowered  and  raised  by  a  lever,  and  which  always  retains 
a  certain  amount  of  water  in  the  basin  when  shut;  this 
valve  is  technically  termed  a  "batt."  Thus  in  addition 
to  the  flush  (when  the  supply  valve  is  opened),  and  the 
water,  which  is  always  standing  in  the  P  trap  below,  there 
is,  on  the  "  batt "  being  opened,  the  water  left  in  the  basin 
from  the  previous  flush  to  wash  through  the  P  trap.  This 
W.c.  apparatus  has  also  a  flushing  rim.  The  P  trap  that 
should  be  employed  in  connection  with  this  class  of  w.c. 
apparatus,  is  the  leaden  one,  and  the  usual  method  of 
jointing  it  to  the  w.c.  apparatus  is  by  turning  the  lead 
of  the  trap  over  on  to  the  lead  safe,  so  as  to  form  a  flange ; 
this  flange  should  be  covered  with  red-lead  putty,  and  the 
outlet  of  the  w.c.  apparatus  bedded  thereon,  which,  when 
screwed  down,  should  squeeze  out  the  surplus  putty, 
leaving  a  good  joint. 

It  should,  however,  be  the  duty  of  those  overlooking 
the  work  to  ascertain  that  careless  workmen,  in  placing 
the  w.c.  apparatus  over  the  P  trap,  have  not  displaced  the 
putty,  thereby  causing  a  defective  joint. 


38        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

Amongst  the  leading  manufacturers  of  this  valve  closet 
class  of  w.c.  apparatus,  Messrs.  J.  Tylor  and  Sons  may  be 
mentioned.  Both  the  design  and  the  workmanship 
bestowed  on  their  apparatus  is  excellent,  and  of  the  many 
types  supplied  by  them,  I  recommend  chiefly  their  patent 
clear-way  regulator  valve  closet  (Mr.  Rogers  Field's 
pattern).  This  varies  from  the  majority  of  valve  closets 
in  not  having  an  overflow  pipe  leading  from  the  basin, 
and,  generally,  discharging  into  the  soil  pipe  by  a  con- 
nection with  the  valve  box  below  the  "  batt "  at  the 
bottom  of  the  basin.  It  is  usual  to  bend  this  overflow  pipe 
near  the  bottom  in  such  a  manner  as  to  form  a  syphon 
trap,  so  that  the  after  flush  (which  should  always  be 
arranged  with  this  type  of  w.c.)  will  fill  the  basin 
sufficiently  to  flow  slightly  over  the  inlet  of  the  overflow 
pipe.  Thus,  when  the  apparatus  is  in  use,  the  syphon 
trap  seal  is  replenished.  However,  it  often  happens  that 
the  supply  regulator  is  not  so  set  as  to  fill  the  basin 
sufficiently  for  this  to  take  place,  and  of  course  without 
the  seal  the  trap  is  useless ;  or  it  may  happen  when  a 
W.c.  is  not  much  used,  that  the  seal  may  dry  up,  thus  the 
use  of  an  overflow  pipe  is  not  to  be  advocated,  for  under 
such  circumstances  just  referred  to,  noxious  gases  may 
rise  into  the  house  through  this  pipe,  owing  to  soil  having 
been  splashed  into  the  end  of  it,  or  near  it  in  the  valve 
box,  at  its  connection  with  the  valve  box.  Another 
objection  to  the  use  of  such  an  overflow  pipe  is  that 
defects  in  the  water  supply  fittings  are  not  so  readily  or 
easily  detected. 

Under  every  w.c.  apparatus,  (except,  perhaps,  when  it 
is  fixed  on  the  ground,)  a  safe  should  be  fixed.  A  safe  is, 
as  implied  by  the  name,  a  safeguard  against  the  flooding 
and  consequent  damaging  of  a  house  in  the  event  of 
overflowing  or  leakage  at  the  water  supply  fittings.  It 


w.c:s.  39 

may  be  described  as  a  tray,  with  the  edges  turned  up  all 
round,  forming  flanges,  and  when  properly  made  is  con- 
structed in  lead.  A  waste  pipe  should  be  connected  with 
the  safe,  and  should  on  no  account  have  any  connection 
with  the  soil  pipe,  or  P  trap,  but  should  be  made  to 
discharge  in  the  open  air  through  an  external  wall  of  the 
house,  so  that  in  the  case  of  an  overflow  or  leakage, 
warning  is  at  once  given,  by  the  splashing  of  water  on  the 
ground,  that  something  is  wrong  with  the  water  supply 
fittings. 

From  the  office  they  so  fulfil,  such  pipes  are  often  very 
properly  termed  "  warning  pipes." 

A  very  common  mistake  is  often  made  in  supplying 
these  pipes,  in  fixing  them  of  a  diameter  very  materially 
smaller  than  the  water  supply  pipe  or  valve.  They 
should  be  of  a  rather  larger  diameter,  for  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  water  is  supplied  under  a  head, 
whereas  when  discharging  from  a  safe,  in  the  case  of 
overflows,  &c.,  there  is  comparatively  no  pressure  at  all. 
When  a  w.c.  apparatus  without  a  basin  overflow  pipe  does 
overflow,  the  water  runs  into  the  safe,  and  thence  through 
the  warning  pipe,  manifesting  to  the  inmates  of  the  house 
that  the  water  is  being  wasted.  If  an  overflow  pipe  is 
used  in  connection  with  a  w.c.  basin,  it  should  be  carried 
straight  through  an  external  wall  of  the  building,  or  be 
made  to  discharge  over  the  lead  safe  near  the  warning 
pipe.  But  its  use  seems  altogether  superfluous,  for,  in 
any  event,  a  safe  should  be  employed.  It  is  a  common 
practice  to  terminate  the  warning  pipes  outside  the  house 
with  a  copper  flap. 

The  wooden  enclosure  of  the  w.c.  apparatus  now 
demands  attention. 

It  is  too  often  the  case  that  the  apparatus  is  so  enclosed, 
that  an  inspection  of  the  lead  safe,  water  fittings  under 


40        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

the  basin,  &c.,  necessitates  a  workman  being  sent  for  to 
enable  such  inspection  to  be  made. 

This  should  not  be  ;  in  addition  to  the  hinged  seat- 
cover,  the  seat  itself  should  be  hinged,  and  the  casing  in 
the  front  of  the  basin  termed  the  "  Riser "  should  be  so 
arranged  that  it  can  be  easily  taken  out,  so  that  the  safe, 
&c.,  may  be  readily  examined  or  cleaned.  Another 
advantage  in  the  hinged  seat  is,  that,  if  a  w.c.  be  used 
for  pouring  away  slops,  the  seat  may  be  lifted  and  the 
slops  emptied  direct  into  the  basin  without  the  chance 
of  the  seat  being  splashed. 

Deeming  some  of  them  unworthy  of  notice,  I  have  not 
above  referred  to  every  class  of  w.c.  apparatus,  but, 
before  passing  from  this  part  of  our  subject,  there  is  one 
which  calls  for  attention  as  being  suitable,  perhaps,  for 
use  in  boys'  schools  or  by  servants.  It  is  one  in  which 
the  basin  and  trap  are  all  in  one  piece,  made  of  glazed 
stoneware  or  china,  and  of  such  a  shape  that  it  will 
stand  unique,  and  the  usual  wooden  enclosure  may  be 
dispensed  with.  This  class  of  apparatus  is,  I  believe, 
made  by  several  makers,  amongst  them  Messrs.  Doulton 
and  Co.,  and  Messrs.  J.  Tylor  and  Sons,  the  latter 
giving  theirs  the  name  of  "  The  Torrent."  They  advocate 
the  use  of  as  large  a  down  supply  pipe  as  two  inches 
in  diameter,  claiming  that  the  flush  clears  the  closet 
instantaneously. 

They  fix  to  this  basin  a  spring  seat,  which  flies  up 
when  not  in  use,  and  leaves  the  basin  for  use,  either  as  a 
W.C.,  slop-sink,  or  urinal.  Owing,  however,  to  the  basin 
and  trap  being  in  one  piece,  there  is  .some  objection  to 
this  form  of  w.c.,  for  should  the  basin  ever  become  loosened, 
then  of  course  there  is  no  longer  any  trap  to  the  soil  pipe, 
and  this  danger  is  greater  when  the  basin  is  situated  on 
any  floor  above  the  basement,  for  in  the  case  of  settlement 


w.c:s.  41 

of  a  building,  the  joint  between  the  basin  (with  trap,)  and 
soil  pipe  is  likely  to  be  broken. 

With  regard  to  the  room  forming  the  w.c.  it  should, 
when  possible,  always  be  situated  against  two  outer  walls, 
being  roomy,  well-ventilated,  and  lighted,  and  an  ante- 
room, which  may  be  used  advantageously  as  a  lavatory, 
should  intervene  between  it  and  the  main  portion  of  the 
house. 

Before  concluding  this  chapter,  the  very  important 
question  of  w.c.  water  supply  must  be  referred  to.  No 
cistern  supplying  water  for  drinking  or  washing  purposes 
should  furnish  the  flush  for  a  w.c. ;  the  cistern  supplying 
a  w.c.  should  be  entirely  distinct;  the  : only  other  use  it 
may  be  put  to,  is  to  supply  the  flush  for  a  urinal,  or  the 
flush  (not  the  draw-off  cocks  over,)  for  a  housemaid's  slop- 
sink.  In  neighbourhoods  where  the  w.c.  flush  is  restricted 
by  the  Water  Company,  the  use  of  water- waste  preventing 
cisterns,  (of  which  there  are  several  manufacturers,) 
supplied  from  the  main  house  cistern,  is  often  to  be 
advocated.  Such  cisterns,  I  believe,  nearly  all  work  with 
a  pneumatic  syphon  action,  one  action  flushing  the  cistern 
practically  empty,  which  has  again  to  be  refilled  by  a  ball- 
cock,  before  another  flush  is  available.  The  quantity  of 
water  such  cisterns  are  generally  made  to  hold  is,  I  believe, 
two  gallons,  which  is  the  limit  allowed  by  the  regulations 
of  most  of  the  London  Water  Works  Companies. 

Such  a  flush  is,  perhaps,  small  enough,  and  people  may 
do  well  to  await  the  refilling  of  the  cistern,  and  supple- 
ment the  first  by  a  second  flush. 

I  recommend  the  use  of  these  cisterns,  especially  in 
connection  with  schools  or  servants'  w.c's,  for,  when  once 
the  flush  has  been  started,  it  cannot  be  arrested  : — thus, 
careless  people  who  generally  release  the  ordinary  lever 
immediately  they  have  pulled  it,  before  anything  like 


42        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

an  adequate  flush  has  passed,  will,  when  one  of  these 
cisterns  is  used,  of  a  necessity  cause  a  w.c.  to  be  well 
flushed,  if  they  only  just  pull  the  lever.  The  supply 
pipe  from  the  cistern  to  the  w.c.  is  often  too  small ;  it 
should  be  at  least  one  inch  in  diameter,  but  a  larger 
diameter  than  this  is  preferable. 

It  is,  in  some  cases,  valuable  to  place,  at  some  point  in 
this  supply  pipe,  a  screw  down  stop-cock,  so  that  the 
water  may  be  turned  off  from  the  w.c.  in  the  event  of 
repairs,  &c.  All  cistern  overflow  pipes  should  be  of 
larger  diameter  than  the  pipes  which  supply  the  cistern, 
and  should  discharge  direct  into  the  air  through  an  external 
wall  of  the  building  as  a  warning  pipe. 

In  concluding  1  would  recall  part  of  the  evidence  of 
Mr.  Rogers  Field,  B.A.,  M.  Inst.  C.E.,  at  the  meeting  of 
the  sanitary  section  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  in  1880.  He 
related  how  one  of  his  clients  (in  whose  house  a  death 
had  occurred  from  diphtheria)  wrote,  "  I  tell  every  one  there 
was  formerly  always  a  bad  smell  about  the  closet,  but  now 
if  I  want  fresh  air,  I  pay  it  a  visit."  Is  there  any  reason 
to  prevent  any  householder  having  his  w.c.  in  a  similar 
state  of  sanitary  perfection?  In  this  chapter  I  have  not 
given  illustrations  of  the  various  w.c.'s  and  appliances  I 
recommend,  for  I  think  it  unnecessary,  as  I  am  sure  the 
various  manufacturers  will  willingly  and  courteously  show 
any  intending  user,  not  only  illustrations,  but  the  actual 
apparatus  as  used. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   UKINAL,   SINKS,    ETC. 

The  Urinal  \\itli  Flushing  Kim — Inspection  Cap  to  Traps — Auto- 
matic Flushing  of  Urinals — The  w.c.  may  be  arranged  for  use 
as  an  Urinal — The  Slop  Sink — Housemaids'  and  Butlers'  Sinks — 
Bell  Trap — Enamelled  Earthenware  Sinks — The  Space  beneath 
Sinks— The  Gully  Trap. 

Two  other  sanitary  appliances  may  be  connected  to  the  soil 
pipe,  besides  the  w.c.,  viz.  the  urinal  and  the  housemaid's 
slop-sink.  Leaving  the  latter  for  discussion  later  on,  the 
former  may  at  once  command  attention.  In  the  majority 
of  cases,  the  ordinary  lip  white  ware  urinal,  with  a  good 
flushing  rim,  will  be  found  to  give  satisfaction. 

Immediately  beneath  the  urinal  basin  the  trap  should 
be  fixed,  and  the  good  sanitary  principles  and  design  of 
the  syphon  form  of  trap,  known  as  the  "P  "  trap,  made  in 
lead,  by  Messrs.  Dent  and  Hellyer,  recommend  it. 

This  trap  is  of  true  syphon  form,  and  has  fixed  in  its 
base  (see  Fig.  7),  a  brass  cap,  which  screws  into  a  brass 
socket,  soldered  in  the  bottom  of  the  lead  trap,  forming, 
with  the  aid  of  a  little  red-lead,  a  sound,  water-tight  joint. 

This  cap  is  for  the  purpose  of  cleaning  or  clearing  the 
trap,  and  is  consequently  very  appropriately  termed  the 
inspection  cap.  The  waste-pipe  from  this  trap  should  be 
carried  through  an  external  wall  of  the  house  into  the 
open  air,  and  made  to  discharge  into  a  gully  trap,  which, 


44        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

in  its  turn,  should  discharge  through  a  short  branch  drain 
and  opercular  channel  into  the  channel  of  the  main  house 
drain,  in  a  manhole  or  turning  chamber.  It  is  well  to 
choose  for  this  purpose  a  gully  trap  which  has  also  a  bath 
or  a  lavatory  waste  pipe,  or  both  discharging  into  it. 
If  it  is  quite  impossible  to  discharge  an  urinal  waste  pipe 
over  a  gully  trap,  and  if  an  urinal  is  really  indispensable, 
then  the  waste  pipe  may  be  joined  to  the  soil  pipe  or 


FIG.  7. 

the  connecting  soil  pipe,  so  as  to  discharge  into  it. 
Every  urinal  should  be  supplied  with  its  flush  by  a  flushing 
cistern,  in  my  opinion ;  and  for  schools,  clubs,  and  public 
buildings,  an  automatic  flushing  cistern  is  always  to  be 
advocated. 

However,  in  the  majority  of  private  houses,  I  consider 
an  urinal  to  be  almost  unnecessary,  as  a  W.C.,  properly 
arranged  with  a  lift-  up  seat  and  lead  safe,  may  fulfil  the 


THE   URINAL,   SINKS,  ETC.  45 

office ;  thus  there  will  be  one  sanitary  appliance  less  in 
the  house,  an  object  always  desirable  when  attainable. 
For  certain  pertinent  reasons  I  have  not  explained  the 
conclusions  arrived  at,  which  suggest  the  above  recom- 
mendations. Other  kinds  of  urinals  are  made,  but  in  my 
opinion  they  cannot  lay  claim  to  any  advantage  over  the 
one  above  described,  when  fitted  in  the  manner  suggested, 
and  will  probably  be  found  more  expensive.1 

A  slop  sink  may  be  described  as  a  basin,  with  a  flushing 
rim  fitted  with  a  P  or  S  trap,  which  should  be  made  to 
discharge  into  the  soil  pipe.  This  appliance  should  be 
treated  as  a  w.c.  entirely,  and  I  consider  one  should  never 
be  fixed  if  possible  to  do  without  it,  as  a  W.C.,  if  properly 

1  Since  writing  the  above  chapters,  a  trap  that  has  excited 
considerable  notice,  as  a  substitute  for  a  "  P"  trap  (shown  in  Fig.  7), 
is  the  Anti-"  D  "  trap,  one  designed  by  Mr.  Hellyer,  of  the  firm  of 
Messrs.  Dent  and  Hellyer,  and  it  will  be  seen  by  the  diagram,  Fig. 
7  a,  that  the  outlet  of  the  trap  is  of  rectangular  form,  and  of  larger 
diameter  than  the  bottom  of  the  trap,  and  the  main  feature  claimed 


in  regard  to  this  trap,  is  that  it  is  not  so  liable  to  be  "  unsealed  "  by 
either  momentum  or  syphonage,  a  fact  no  doubt  indisputable.  How- 
ever, it  must  be  remembered  that  in  such  a  trap  there  are  angularities, 
and  where  such  occur  there  is  more  liability  to  deposit  than  would 
be  in  the  case  of  Fig.  5,  and  frictional  resistance  must  be  increased 
by  such  angularity. 


46        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

arranged  with  lift-up  seat  and  lead  safe,  very  well  fulfils 
the  office  of  a  slop  sink  for  the  pouring  away  of  slops. 
If  one  is  necessary,  those  made  by  Messrs.  Geo.  Jennings 
and  Co.  of  Lambeth  will  be  found  to  be  as  good  as  any. 
Sinks  generally  in  the  past  have  been  sanitary  appliances 
which,  paradoxically,  have  been  most  insanitary  ones,  often 
having  been  a  source  of  ventilation  to  the  drains,  admitting 
sewer  gases  directly  into  the  house.  Housemaids'  and 
butlers'  sinks  should  be  carefully  disconnected  from  the 
drains  by  having  similar  traps  fitted  underneath  them, 
and  their  waste  pipes  discharging  over  a  gully  trap  in  a 
similar  manner  as  recommended  for  the  urinal  above. 
Owing  to  the  numerous  small  particles  of  solid  matter 
which  necessarily  pass  down  the  waste  pipe  of  a  scullery 
sink,  the  excellent  form  of  trap  recommended  for  the 
butler's  sink  and  urinal  is  scarcely  suitable,  as  such  a  trap 
would  too  frequently  become  choked.  The  patent  bell 
trap,  made  by  Messrs.  Geo.  Jennings  and  Co.,  will  be  found 
to  be  the  most  satisfactory  form  of  trap  for  trapping  the 
waste  pipe  of  a  scullery  sink ;  and,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
above  sinks,  the  waste  pipe  should  be  made  to  discharge 
over  a  gully  trap.  On  no  account  should  any  other  form 
of  bell  trap  but  the  one  above  mentioned  be  used,  and 
that  one  only  in  conjunction  with  the  waste  pipes  of 
scullery  sinks.  To  the  old  form  of  bell  trap  there  are 
many  objections,  the  chief,  perhaps,  being  that  when  the 
grating  covering  it  is  removed,  or  should  the  bell  of  it 
become  broken,  the  outlet  to  the  waste  pipe  or  drain  is 
no  longer  trapped.  Further,  the  form  of  it  is  such  as  to 
readily  admit  of  a  collection  of  filth.  Again,  the  quantity 
of  water  which  constitutes  the  seal  of  such  a  trap  is  so 
small,  that  it  is  soon  dried  up  by  evaporation,  and  con- 
sequently, when  such  traps  are  used  for  trapping  drains 
carrying  off  the  surface  water  of  areas,  &c.,  the  seal  of 


THE   URINAL,  SINKS,   ETC.  47 

them  becomes  dependent  on  the  state  of  the  weather,  and 
after  but  a  few  days  without  rain,  the  seal  of  these  traps 
will  be  found  so  much  evaporated  that  the  drain  is  no 
longer  trapped.  Messrs.  Jennings  and  Co.'s  trap  is  also 
open  to  this  last  objection,  and  hence,  in  my  opinion,  it 
should  only  be  used  in  conjunction  with  the  waste  pipes 
of  scullery  sinks,  down  which  water  is  frequently  being 
passed,  to  replenish  the  seal  of  the  trap.  Their  trap  is 
so  constructed  that  the  grating  may  be  entirely  removed 
without  the  trap  being  in  any  way  interfered  with,  thus 
the  grating  may  be  taken  up  and  solid  matter  removed. 

Sinks  very  suitable  for  the  use  of  the  house  or  scullery 
maid,  are  now  constructed  of  enamelled  earthenware, 
the  four  corners  being  rounded  instead  of  angular, 
thus  not  affording  such  a  good  harbour  for  dirt,  and  the 
glazed  surface  will  not  so  readily  allow  of  dust,  &c.,  ad- 
hering to  it.  Butlers'  sinks  are  generally  made  deeper 
than  these  earthenware  sinks  are  constructed,  and  are 
generally  wooden  ones  lined  with  lead ; 1  the  outlet  of  the 
sink  to  the  waste  pipe  being  closed  by  a  brass  plug  (of 
the  same  diameter  as  the  waste  pipe),  fitting  in  a  socket 
with  a  grating,  so  that  the  sink  can  be  filled  with  water 
for  the  purpose  of  washing  glass,  &c. 

A  housemaid's  sink  may  be  fitted  with  a  similar  plug 
and  socket,  or  a  brass  grating  alone  may  be  used.  The 
space  underneath  sinks  should  not  be  enclosed  by  a  casing, 
but  left  open,  in  order  to  prevent  a  refuge  being  provided 
for  the  accumulation  of  dirt  and  rubbish. 

Before  proceeding  further  it  may  be  well  to  speak  of 
the  gully  trap,  to  which  so  much  reference  has  been  made 
in  this  chapter. 

The  gully  trap  is  an  excellent  form  of  trap  consisting 

1  Butlers'  sinks  are  now  made  in  white  glazed  stoneware  and 
china. 


48        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

of  a  small  hopper,  discharging  through  a  bent  outlet  pipe, 
together  with  it  forming  a  syphon  form  of  trap,  much  of 
the  more  solid  matter  discharged  into  it  being  deposited 
at  the  bottom  of  the  hopper,  so  that  it  can  be  cleared  out 
at  intervals  ;  it  is  constructed  of  glazed  stoneware,  and 
the  glazing  admits  of  any  fat  or  grease  which  may  adhere 
to  the  sides  of  the  hopper  being  easily  washed  off.  This 
trap  was  no  doubt  suggested  by  the  filthy  dip  trap  of  the 
past,  and  now  some  stoneware  traps  termed  gully  traps 
are  sold,  which  somewhat  assimilate  the  dip  trap;  care 
should  be  taken  to  avoid  these,  and  a  gully  trap  selected 


FIG.  8.  FIG.  9. 

having  an  easy  bend  at  the  junction  of  the  hopper  with 
the  bent  outlet  pipe,  which  pipe  itself  should  have  its 
bends  easy. 

One  of  the  best  gully  traps  made  is  that  supplied  by 
Messrs.  Bailey  and  Co.,  of  the  Fulham  Potteries,  and 
termed  Field's  gully  trap. 

Every  gully  trap  should  be  covered  with  an  iron  grating, 
in  order  to  prevent  stones,  &c.,  entering  them. 

Figs.  8  and  9  show  a  bad  and  good  form  of  gully  trap. 

There  are  other  appliances  which  should  be  made  to 
discharge  over  a  gully  trap,  but  these  must  be  treated  of 
in  another  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  LAVATORY,    RAIN-WATER  PIPES,   BATH,   ETC. 

The  Tip-up  Lavatory  Basin — Rain-water  Pipes — Their  Joints — The 
Rain-water  Shoe— The  Bath— The  Safe— The  Safe  Waste  Pipe— 
The  Area  of  same— The  Outlet  from  Bath— The  Bath  Waste 
Pipe— The  Overflow  Pipe— Cisterns— Dustbin— The  Portable 
Iron  Dustbin. 

AT  the  conclusion  of  the  preceding  chapter,  a  good  form 
of  gully  trap  was  illustrated,  and  previously  the  method 
in  which  this  trap  should  be  made  to  discharge  into  the 
main  house  drain  was  explained ;  always  when  possible 
this  method  should  be  adopted.  It  now  remains  to  refer 
to  the  other  few  appliances,  the  waste  pipes  of  which 
should  be  made  to  discharge  over  a  gully  trap;  these 
may  be  summed  up  in  the  lavatory,  rain-water  pipes,  and 
the  bath. 

A  gully  trap  should  also  be  used  to  receive  the  stable 
drainage,  but  it  may  be  well  to  leave  this  till  the  stable 
drainage  is  under  discussion  in  a  later  chapter. 

It  is  a  matter  of  opinion  as  to  what  kind  of  lavatory 
basin  should  be  used.  In  my  opinion  the  convenience  of 
the  tip-up  basin,  made  by  Messrs.  Geo.  Jennings  and  Co., 
commends  its  employment. 

It  is  maintained  in  some  quarters,  I  believe,  that  in  the 
course  of  time,  the  hopper  into  which  the  soapy  contents 
of  the  basin  are  tipped,  becomes  coated  with  filth,  and 

E 


50        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

engenders  foul  gases,  but  this  objection  may  be  over-ruled, 
I  think,  when  the  ease  with  which  the  hopper  may  be 
cleaned  is  taken  into  consideration. 

Of  course  in  any  case  where  careless  negligence  is 
allowed  to'  prevail,  the  result  must  be  filth  with  its 
consequences  ;  if  any  sanitary  appliance  were  never 
cleaned,  the  same  consequence  would  result,  and  the 
chambermaid's  office  become  almost  a  sinecure. 

The  hopper  in  question  should  have  fixed  immediately 
beneath  it  a  similar  trap  (Fig.  7)  as  recommended  for  the 
urinal  in  the  last  chapter,  and  when  the  lavatory  is  on 
the  ground  floor,  the  waste  pipe  from  the  trap  should  be 
made  to  discharge  in  a  like  manner  over  a  gully  trap,  as 
before  recommended,  in  connection  with  this  trap. 

Should  the  ordinary  basin  with  the  brass  plug  be 
adopted,  the  disconnection  should  be  just  the  same,  and 
of  course  then  the  above  trap  should  be  connected  to  the 
basin  itself  immediately  under  it,  the  waste  pipe  from  the 
trap  being  carried  through  an  external  wall  of  the  house 
to  discharge  over  a  gully  trap  as  above. 

The  ordinary  basin  should  have  an  overflow  pipe  taken 
from  just  beneath  the  rim  of  the  basin,  and  such  a  pipe  is 
best  carried  through  an  external  wall,  so  that  it  can 
discharge  into  the  air  as  a  warning  pipe. 

It  is  now  almost  always  the  custom  to  fix  rain-water 
pipes  made  of  cast-iron  with  socket  and  spigot  joints. 

The  sockets,  when  the  pipes  are  fixed,  should  be  filled 
with  spun  yarn  and  red-lead,  which  should  be  well  caulked 
home.  All  rain-water  pipes  should  discharge  through  a 
short  bent  pipe,  termed  a  shoe  (see  bottom  of  rain-water 
pipe,  Fig.  10),  over  a  gully  trap. 

In  the  past,  it  has  been  the  practice  to  connect  the 
rain-water  pipes  actually  to  the  main  house  drain,  with 
the  joints  above  referred  to  totally  devoid  of  any  filling 


THE  LAVATORY,  BAIN-WATER  PIPES,   ETC.      51 


-PLAN  - 


whatsoever  ;  thus,  these 
pipes  have  filled  an  office 
which  should  never  be  de- 
manded of  them,  namely, 
the  office  of  ventilating 
pipes  to  the  main  house 
drain,  the  foul  gases  flow- 
ing up  them,  and  passing 
out  at  any  unfilled  joint, 
in  many  cases  almost  im- 
mediately beneath  a  win- 
dow. 

Rain-water  pipes  should, 
without  exception,  be  dis- 
connected from  the  main 
house  drain,  by  being  made 
to  discharge  over  a  gully 
trap,  as  shown  in  Fig.  10, 
and  on  no  account  should 
a  rain-water  pipe  be  fixed 
inside  a  house,  but  against 
an  external  wall  of  the 
house. 

That     very     important 


refa 


FIG.  10. 


52        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

and  luxurious  sanitary  appliance,  the  bath,  now  claims 
attention. 

Baths  are  made  in  various  metals  and  materials,  but 
probably  those  ranking  amongst  the  first  in  superiority 
are  the  copper  and  iron  ones ;  and  whilst  the  former 
are  perhaps  to  be  preferred,  the  latter  are  more  often 
employed  owing  to  the  great  difference  in  cost  of  the 
materials,  &c. 

A  similar  ulead  safe  "  as  that  recommended  in  connection 
with  the  W.C.,  only  in  length  and  breadth  an  inch  or  two 
greater  than  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  bath  itself, 
should  be  fixed  beneath  the  bath,  as  a  safeguard  against 
damage  to  the  ceiling,  &c.,  below,  in  case  of  an  overflow. 

From  this  safe  a  waste  pipe  should  be  carried  through 
an  external  wall  of  the  house  to  discharge  into  the  air  so 
as  to  give  warning  in  the  event  of  overflow  of  the  bath. 
It  is  as  well  to  close  the  end  of  such  a  pipe  outside  the 
house  with  a  copper  flap,  in  order  to  prevent  a  draught  of 
air  flowing  into  the  house. 

Such  a  pipe  should  be  of  an  area  (I  refer  to  baths  with 
hot  and  cold  water  supply  pipes)  somewhat  exceeding  the 
area  of  the  supply  pipes  combined.  In  older  kinds  of 
baths  it  has  been  the  custom  to  make  the  outlet  for 
the  waste  water  serve  as  the  inlet  for  the  fresh  water,  the 
result  being  that  hair,  soap-suds,  and  dirt,  not  having  been 
entirely  washed  away  from  the  immediate  neighbourhood 
of  the  outlet,  are  again  forced  back  into  the  bath  on  the 
fresh  water  being  admitted  to  fill  it. 

The  supply  pipes  should  have  inlets  to  the  bath  entirely 
apart  from  the  outlet,  and  the  waste  pipe  should  have 
fixed  in  it  a  valve  known  as  a  "  Quick  Full-way  Bath 
Waste  Valve,"  such  as  is  made  by  Messrs.  J.  Bolding 
and  Sons,  which  firm  holds  one  of  the  foremost  positions 
amongst  those  firms  who  supply  baths  and  bath  fittings. 


THE  LAVATORY,  RAIN-WATER  PIPES,   ETC.       53 

As  in  the  case  of  the  lavatory  waste  pipe,  soap  is  apt  to 
be  deposited  on  the  internal  face  of  the  bath  waste  pipe, 
which,  on  decomposing,  becomes  offensive,  therefore  this 
pipe  should  have  a  trap  fixed  in  it,  and  of  a  similar  kind 
to  that  advocated  for  the  lavatory,  only  the  inspection  cap 
should  be  fixed  on  the  side  of  the  trap  instead  of  under- 
neath it,  as  the  trap's  close  proximity  to  the  floor  would 
ill  admit  of  the  cleansing  of  the  trap  by  the  cap  if  so 
fixed.  (See  Fig.  10.)  A  bath  waste  pipe  should  be  at 
least  two  inches  in  diameter. 

Of  course,  when  a  bath  is  fixed  on  or  about  the  level 
of  the  ground,  the  waste  pipe  may  be  made  to  discharge 
immediately  over  a  gully  trap,  but  when  above  the  ground 
level,  it  should  be  made  to  discharge  into  a  rain-water 
head  and  pipe  as  shown  in  Fig.  10. 

The  waste  pipe  of  lavatories  or  housemaids'  sinks,  fixed 
above  the  ground  level,  should  also  be  made  to  discharge 
in  this  manner.  All  baths  should  have  an  overflow  pipe, 
which  should  be  of  the  same  area  as  the  waste  pipe  of 
the  safe,  over  which  the  overflow  pipe  may  be  arranged  to 
discharge. 

A  mistake  often  made  calls  for  remark,  that  of  fixing 
overflow  and  safe  waste  pipes,  of  about  the  same  size 
only  as  one  of  the  supply  pipes;  thus  should  a  bath 
be  inadvertently  left  when  being  filled  by  both  supply 
pipes,  and  an  overflow  result,  considerably  more  water  is 
being  passed  into  the  bath  than  the  overflow  pipe  is 
capable  of  carrying  off,  the  result  inevitably  being  damage 
to  the  room  below. 

Such  pipes  should  be  of  an  area  somewhat  exceeding 
the  area  of  the  two  supply  pipes  combined — I  say  exceed- 
ing, because  it  must  be  remembered  that  in  most  cases 
the  water  is  supplied  to  the  bath  at  a  greater  pressure 
than  that  at  which  it  will  pass  from  the  bath. 


54        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

I  have  already  in  a  former  chapter  referred  at  some 
length  to  cisterns,  but  there  is  one  point  in  connection 
with  them  that  calls  for  comment;  it  is  the  pernicious 
custom  of  fixing  them  in  and  under  floors  ;  when  so  fixed, 
they  are  liable  to  become  the  receptacle  of  much  dirt 
through  the  floor  boards,  &c. 

They  should  be  fixed  when  possible  in  positions  easily 
accessible  of  examination,  and  should  be  carefully  covered, 
and  periodically  cleaned  out. 

Perhaps  the  few  remarks  it  is  proposed  to  make  with 
reference  to  the  dustbin,  will  be  deemed  irrelevant  to  the 
subject  of  these  chapters,  but  as  the  dustbin  plays  such 
an  important  part  in  the  removal  of  refuse  of  a  house,  and 
has  such  a  great  sanitary  bearing  in  a  habitable  building, 
I  may  be  pardoned  for  adverting  to  it. 

No  dustbin  should  be  built  against  a  wall  of  a  house ;  it 
should  be  distinct  and  apart  from  the  dwelling,  being 
removed  as  far  as  possible  from  it,  consistent  with  its 
convenient  use. 

It  should  be  the  care  of  the  housekeeper  to  see  that  it 
is  regularly  emptied,  and  the  internal  walls  of  it  being 
coated  periodically  with  neat  lime  mixed  with  water,  is  to 
be  strongly  advocated. 

Quite  recently,  owing  to  illness  in  a  large  house  in 
Kensington,  my  opinion  was  sought  with  reference  to  the 
sanitary  state  of  its  drainage  arrangements.  On  arriving 
at  the  house,  a  most  unpleasant  stench  was  observable, 
apparently  arising  from  the  area  below,  which  no  doubt 
was  caused  by  the  unemptied  dustbin.  In  my  opinion 
the  drainage  arrangements  were  not  responsible  for  the 
illness,  and  the  dustbin  probably  was  —  although,  of 
course,  one  could  not  say  for  certain  such  was  the  case. 
The  doctor,  however,  was  strongly  of  opinion  that  the 
illness  arose  from  sewer  or  some  such  gases. 


THE  LAVATORY,  EAIN-WATER  PIPES,  ETC.       55 

The  portable  galvanized  iron  dustbins  now  made,  will 
be  found  an  admirable  substitute  for  the  old-fashioned 
buildings  from  a  sanitary  aspect. 

Fig.  10  will  be  found  to  refer  to  some  of  those  ap- 
pliances alluded  to  in. the  last  chapter  as  well  as  those 
mentioned  in  this. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

STABLES. 

The  Nature  of  Stable  Sewage — Flooring — Stable  Channels — Special 
Flushing  of  same— The  fall  of  Stable  Floors— The  Coach-house. 

IT  has  been  customary  in  the  past  to  give  but  little 
consideration  to  the  drainage  of  stables,  but  in  these  more 
enlightened  days,  when  sanitary  reform  is  becoming — 
although  but  to  a  very  slight  extent — more  recognized, 
people  are  commencing  to  realize  that  foul  gases  are 
capable  of  dispensing  injury  to  both  man  and  beast. 

Owners  of  valuable  horses  are  very  gradually  beginning 
to  pay  that  necessary  attention  to  the  drainage  arrange- 
ments of  their  stables,  which  no  doubt  not  only  decreases 
the  yearly  account  of  the  veterinary  surgeon,  but  preserves 
and  prolongs  the  lives  of  costly  horses. 

Similarly  as  it  is  the  successful  endeavour  of  sanitary 
reform  to  exclude  sewer  gases  and  to  remove  as  speedily 
as  possible  all  sewage  from  the  house,  so  it  should  be  from 
the  stables ;  the  consideration  of  how  best  to  do  this  will  be 
the  object  of  this  chapter. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  sewage  matter  from 
the  stables  is  of  a  very  different  kind  to  that  which  is 
passed  down  the  main  house  drain  from  the  various  sanitary 
appliances  in  the  house,  and  that  small  pieces  of  straw  in 
large  quantities,  and  contaminated  with  sewage  matter, 


STABLES.  57 

with  which  they  have  come  in  contact,  pass  into  the  main 
house  drain. 

Again,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  such  straw,  and  even 
the  sewage  itself  discharged  from  stables  is  liable  to  be 
deposited,  and  the  greater  the  length  of  drain  through 
which  it  has  to  pass,  of  course  the  greater  will  be  the 
accumulation  of  deposit,  on  the  sides  of  the  main  house 
drain,  after  being  discharged  into  it  from  the  branch  drain 
receiving  the  stable  sewage,  owing  to  the  fresh  water  flush, 
as  usually  employed  in  the  cleansing  of  stables,  (even  in 
the  best  practice,)  not  passing  down  the  drains  in  one  body, 
so  to  speak. 

In  the  event  of  there  being  such  deposit,  (which  would 
not  be  washed  away  probably  until  a  flush  from  a  W.C. 
came  down  the  main  house  drain,  which  might  not  be 
before  some  hours  after,)  it  is  patent  that  it  must  tend  to 
lessen  the  sweetness  of  the  main  house  drain,  and  therefore, 
in  my  opinion,  the  branch  drain  conducting  the  stable 
sewage  to  the  main  house  drain  should  be  made  to 
discharge  into  it  as  near  the  syphon  trap  as  possible ;  that 
is,  such  a  branch  drain  should  discharge,  when  possible, 
through  an  opercular  channel,  (as  before  described  for 
branch  drains,)  into  the  straight  open  channel  of  the 
main  house  drain  in  the  disconnecting  manhole. 

At  the  head  of  this  branch  drain  a  gully  trap  should  be 
fixed,  immediately  outside  an  external  wall  of  the  stables, 
into  which  the  stable  sewage  should  be  passed. 

Fig.  11  explains  the  method  recommended  for  adoption 
— only  one  stall  is  shown,  but  this,  no  doubt,  will  suffice 
for  a  clear  explanation. 

The  stable  bricks,  known  as  bevelled  adamantine  clinkers, 
when  set  in  Portland  cement  mortar  on  a  bed  of  concrete, 
form  an  admirable  flooring,  and  if  these  be  not  used,  care 
should  be  taken  that  a  good  hard  flooring  is  made. 


58         DRAINAGE   OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

A  main  channel  should  be  laid  along  the  foot  of  the  stalls, 
(see  Fig.  11,)  and  from  it  a  branch  channel  should  run  up 
the  centre  of  each  stall  or  loose  box. 

A  class  of  channels  for  this  purpose,  which  have  earned 
for  themselves  much  commendation,  are  the  iron  ones  made 
by  Messrs.  Cottam  &  Co.,  termed  by  them  the  "  Claremont 
pattern  "  ;  these  are  so  made  that  when  placed  level  on  the 
top  they  have  the  necessary  fall  to  rapidly  empty,  but  in 
addition  to  this  the  top  can  at  any  time  be  removed  and 
the  channels  may  be  swept  and  cleaned  out. 

It  is  well,  however,  not  merely  to  trust  to  the  fact  that 
these  channels  may  be  cleaned  as  above,  but  each  of  the 
branch  channels  should  have  introduced  into  it  at  its 
upper  end  a  fresh  water  supply  pipe,  with  a  full- way  screw 
down  stop-cock  situated  just  under  the  manger,  so  that 
a  stable  hand  can  daily  "  flush  down "  the  channels  by 
turning  the  cock. 

A  similar  pipe  and  tap  should  be  fixed  at  the  head  of 
the  main  channel  so  that  it  may  also  be  "flushed  "  through 
to  the  above-mentioned  gully  trap,  into  which  it  should 
discharge,  being  carried  through  an  external  wall  of  the 
stables  for  that  purpose. 

The  cistern  which  feeds  the  flushing  pipes  "should  be 
fixed  high  up,  for  of  course  the  greater  the  altitude  the 
better  the  flush  will  be. 

The  arrows  shown  in  Fig.  11  indicate  the  direction  in 
which  the  floors  of  stables  should  be  made  to  fall,  but  care 
must  be  exercised  that  the  fall  given  be  not  too  great,  for 
if  this  is  so  a  horse  is  unable  to  rest  properly. 

From  the  head  of  the  stall  to  the  main  channel  about 
three  inches,  and  one  and  a  half  inches  for  each  side  will 
suffice. 

The  floor  of  the  coach-house  may  have  a  slight  fall  to  a 
gully  trap  in  the  centre,  which  should  be  made  to  discharge 


STABLES. 


50 


through  a  branch  drain  and  opercular  channel  also  into  the 
disconnecting  or  other  manhole  or  chamber. 


FIG.  11. 


Such   a   gully  trap  will    be   found   convenient  when 
carriages  are  being  washed,  &c. 


60        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

Stables  should  be  well  lighted  and  airy,  but  not 
draughty. 

The  method  above  described  of  discharging  the  main  and 
branch  channels  over  a  gully  trap  is  an  accepted  and 
approved  one,  I  believe,  but  when  the  cost  can  be  afforded 
and  water  supply  admits  of  it,  a  system  of  automatic 
flushing  of  the  branch  drain  which  receives  stable  drainage 
is  to  be  advocated. 

Those  who  have  valuable  horses  will  do  well  to  pay 
heed  to  the  sanitary  mode  of  their  living,  and  the  outlay 
in  the  proper  drainage  of  their  stables  will  not  be  found 
to  have  been  money  ill  spent. 

This  portion  of  my  subject  has  not  produced  a  long 
chapter,  but  I  think  the  importance  of  it  justifies  there 
being  one  wholly  devoted  to  it. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

DISPOSAL   OF  SEWAGE. 

The  Rivers  Pollution  Prevention  Act— The  Cesspool— The  Float 
Indicator — The  Overflow  Pipes — Removal  of  Solid  Residue — 
The  Straining  Chamber — The  Position  of  the  Cesspool — Surface 
Disposal— Shuttle  and  Flap  Valves— The  Objection  to  the  Dis- 
charge of  Crude  Sewage  on  the  Ground — Sub-Irrigation — Bed  for 
Sub-Irrigation  Pipes — Contour  Principle  of  Irrigation — Sewage 
Meter  Tank — Sewage  Sick— Setting  out  Ground  on  the  Contour 
Principle — Herbage  grown  on  Sewage-fed  Land — Tape-worm — 
Ventilation  of  the  Connecting  Drain. 

IN  the  preceding  chapters  it  has  been  my  endeavour  to 
show  the  best  method  of  collecting  the  sewage  from  the 
various  appliances  in  the  house  and  from  the  stables,  and 
how  to  dispose  of  it  to  the  public  sewer,  which  being  done, 
it  passes  into  the  hands  of  other  people,  and  out  of  the 
control  of  the  designer  of  the  house  drains.  The  disposal 
of  the  sewage  from  the  public  sewer  is  a  subject  to  which 
a  series  of  articles  might  be  entirely  devoted,  and  it  is 
hardly  one  that  comes  under  the  present  heading  at  all, 
being  a  subject  to  be  discussed  under  that  of  "  Main 
Drainage,"  rather  than  under  the  present  title,  so  that  it 
will  not  be  considered  here  at  all,  it  being  only  the  duty 
of  the  engineer  designing  a  good  system  of  house  drainage, 
when  the  house  drains  are  to  be  discharged  into  a  public 
sewer,  to  see  that  such  drains  are  properly  "  disconnected  " 
from  it,  &c.,  as  described  in  earlier  chapters.  But  it  often 


62        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

happens,  in  the  case  of  country  residences,  that  there  is 
no  public  sewer  into  which  the  sewage  can  be  discharged, 
and  then  it  devolves  upon  the  householder  or  landlord  to 
dispose  of  the  sewage.  Properly  to  discuss  the  question 
of  how  to  do  this,  would  require  a  small  volume,  no  doubt, 
but  I  trust  in  the  limit  of  this  chapter  to  treat  on  two 
or  three  of  the  best  methods  for  this  purpose. 

Cases  sometimes  occur,  when  a  smaller  residence  has 
not  sufficient  land  to  admit  of  a  system  of  irrigation  being 
carried  out,  and  in  such  a  case  the  cesspool  is  the  only 
resource  left,  for  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  since  the 
passing  of  the  Rivers  Pollution  Prevention  Act  of  1876, 
crude  sewage  may  no  longer  be  passed  into  any  river  or 
stream. 

The  very  mention  of  the  word  cesspool  is  to  some 
people  like  the  holding  of  a  red  lamp  to  a  locomotive 
driver  on  a  railway,  but  a  cesspool  of  proper  size  and 
design,  and  properly  "  disconnected  "  from  the  main  house 
drain,  when  carefully  attended  to,  is  not  nearly  the  offen- 
sive and  dangerous  thing  so  many  people  think.  It  should 
be  noted  that  I  am  not  advocating  the  use  of  a  series  of 
cesspools,  the  one  emptying  into  the  other  and  so  on,  but 
only  of  one  cesspool  of  peculiar  design,  and  that  only  when 
the  land  belonging  to  a  house  is  so  limited  as  to  prevent 
the  sewage  being  evenly  and  shallowly  distributed  over 
the  ground  from  the  drains,  at  a  suitable  distance  from 
the  residence.  The  cesspool  of  the  olden  days,  a  mere 
hole  dug  in  the  ground,  from  which  the  liquids  percolated 
into  the  earth,  and  in  which  the  solids  disintegrated,  was 
superseded  by  an  excavation,  in  which  a  sort  of  brickwork 
sump  or  tank  was  constructed,  from  which  an  overflow 
pipe  is  conducted  to  the  nearest  ditch,  which  of  necessity 
becomes  horribly  fouled. 

Such  a  tank  is  rarely,  if  ever,  water-tight,  and  percolation 


DISPOSAL   OF  SEWAGE. 


63 


FIG.  12. 


64        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

takes  place  as  before.  This  soaking  away  of  the  sewage, 
in  such  cases  where  a  cesspool  may  be  used,  is  a  source  of 
grave  danger,  if  the  water-supply  of  the  residence  is  drawn 
from  a  well,  for  the  sewage  will  probably  find  its  way  to 
the  strata  containing  the  water  and  thus  contaminate  it. 

A  cesspool,  in  my  opinion,  should  be  but  a  small  recep- 
tacle capable  of  holding  but  a  few  days'  sewage  discharge, 
and  should  be  constructed  of  a  conical  or  some  other  form, 
so  that  the  top  is  much  smaller  than  the  base,  in  order 
that  when  it  is  nearly  full  but  a  small  area  of  the  sewage 
is  exposed. 

The  bottle  shape  shown  in  Fig.  12  is  such  as  will,  I 
think,  be  found  very  successful. 

When  the  residence  is  supplied  with  water  from  a  well, 
and  a  cesspool  must  be  used,  such  an  one  should  be  of 
water-tight  construction,  cement  mortar  and  concrete 
being  used. 

In  such  a  case  no  overflow  pipes  should,  in  my  opinion, 
be  employed,  and  a  suitable  pump  should  te  used  to  lift 
the  sewage,  which  should  be  distributed  by  a  trough  over 
the  garden,  and  the  householder,  who  will  find  he  has 
thereby  a  valuable  source  of  manuring,  should  insist  on 
this  pump  being  used  with  such  regularity  that  the  cess- 
pool is  never  allowed  to  so  fill,  that  the  sewage  rises  above 
the  level  of  the  outfall  of  the  connecting  drain.  To  enable 
the  master  of  the  house  to  tell  by  a  glance  whether  the 
cesspool  is  nearly  full  or  not,  it  is  advisable  to  arrange  a 
counterbalance  float-indicator,  as  shown  in  Fig.  12. 

When  a  house  is  supplied  with  water  from  public  water- 
works, then  overflow  pipes  radiating  from  the  cesspool 
may  be  fixed,  and  each  of  these  may  consist  of  about 
three  lengths  of  glazed  stoneware  pipes,  continuous  from 
which  for  some  feet  may  be  laid  a  land  drain  of  agricul- 
tural drain-pipes. 


DISPOSAL   OF  SEWAGE. 


65 


ECTION    OF 


Fio.  13. 


66        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

These  overflow  pipes  should  be  situated  just  below  the 
level  of  the  outfall  of  the  "  connecting  drain." 

Such  a  cesspool  should  be  covered  by  a  large  grating. 

The  solid  residue  should  be  removed,  and  the  cesspool 
cleaned  out  periodically,  as  often  as  possible. 

However,  if  the  expense  can  be  afforded,  and  the  fall 
admit  of  it,  a  small  straining  chamber  may  be  situated, 
with  advantage  perhaps,  in  the  "  connecting  drain  "  imme- 
diately before  the  cesspool  is  reached,  and  grilles  or  gratings 
of  iron,  or  formed  by  thick  wires  in  an  iron  frame,  should 
be  placed  across  the  chamber  to  form  a  strainer  and  to 
intercept  the  solids.  This  chamber  should  be  water-tight, 
and  the  bottom  may  be  formed  by  an  invert  with  concrete 
rendered  over  with  cement,  and,  at  the  end  where  the 
"connecting  drain"  leading  to  the  cesspool  is  fixed,  a 
gutter  may  be  made  of  the  same  "  sweep  "  as  the  drain  and 
discharging  into  it. 

The  solids  thus  intercepted  should  be  scooped  out 
periodically  and  as  often  as  possible,  and  having  been 
distributed  over  the  ground  should  be  dug  into  it. 

The  straining  chamber  may  be  similarly  covered  as  the 
cesspool.  It  should  be  noted  that  this  chamber  should  be 
considerably  smaller  in  cubic  contents  than  the  cesspool 
into  which  it  discharges,  say  about  one-third  of  the  size  of 
the  cesspool. 

Although,  perhaps,  common  sense  would  nearly  always 
so  dictate,  yet  it  is  incumbent  on  me  to  point  out,  that  a 
cesspool  should  always  be  situated  as  far  from  the  residence 
as  possible,  and  with  this  admonition  the  subject  of  cess- 
pool disposal  may  be  left,  and  that  of  discharging  sewage 
direct  on  to  the  land  discussed. 

When  the  lands  of  a  house  are  of  sufficient  acreage  to 
admit  of  the  sewage  being  conducted  some  300  or  400 
yards  at  least  from  the  residence,  crude  sewage  is  some- 


DISPOSAL   OF  SEWAGE.  67 

times  distributed  direct  from  the  "  connecting  drain  "  over 
the  ground  by  placing  branch  drains  (running  out  at  the 
surface)  at  intervals  in  the  main  line  of  drain,  and  in  each 
of  these  branch  drains  close  to  the  junction  a  flap-valve 
is  situated,  and  in  the  connecting  drain  immediately  below 
each  branch  drain  a  shuttle  valve  is  fixed. 

By  these  valves  the  flow  of  the  sewage  may  be  directed 
on  the  ground  at  any  of  the  branch  drains  desired,  and,  of 
course,  the  more  numerous  these  are  the  more  equally  the 
sewage  may  be  distributed. 

In  this  method  of  disposal  it  is  necessary  for  the  ground 
to  fall  rapidly  away  from  the  main  line  of  drain ;  and  of 
course  if  ground  can  be  found  which  admits  of  a  fall  on 
both  sides  of  it,  so  much  the  better. 

Perhaps  a  sudden  and  sharp  gradient  is  to  be  desired, 
for  it  will  admit  of  the  branch  drains  running  out  to  the 
surface  sooner  than  with  a  gradual  fall. 

Reference  to  Fig.  13  will  no  doubt  assist  in  explaining 
the  method  referred  to. 

A  portion  of  the  main  line  of  drain  is  shown  with  some 
of  the  branch  drains. 

Supposing  the  shuttle  valves  are  open  and  the  flap 
valves  closed  down  to  A,  which  is  open,  then  sewage  can 
flow  freely  to  that  point,  and  if  the  shuttle  at  B  be  dropped 
into  its  seat,  then  the  sewage  will  of  course  be  directed  so 
as  to  flow  through  the  open  A,  and  through  the  branch 
drain  and  over  the  ground  C,  and  to  enable  the  sewage  to 
be  more  widely  dispersed,  little  gutters  may  be  cut  in  the 
ground  in  the  direction  it  may  be  desirous  to  distribute 
the  sewage. 

When  this  branch  drain  at  C  has  been  in  use  a  little 
time,  and  the  ground  is  barely  covered  with  sewage,  then 
the  valve  A  should  be  shut  and  B  opened,  and  another 
pair  of  valves  and  branch  drains  brought  into  use. 


68        DRAINAGE   OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

The  discharging  of  crude  sewage  over  the  ground  in 
this  way  is,  however,  objectionable,  for  the  solids  are  apt 
to  be  lodged  on  the  roots  or  leaves  of  vegetables  or  herbage, 
and  for  obvious  reasons  the  distribution  of  sewage  in  the 
state  it  leaves  the  house  must  be  offensive,  if  only  to  the 
eye. 

The  straining,  therefore,  of  the  sewage  is  to  be  advocated, 
and  to  effect  this  a  straining  chamber  similar  to  the  one 
already  recommended  in  connection  with  the  cesspool 
should  be  fixed,  having  its  position  in  the  main  line  of 
drain  at  a  point  just  before  the  irrigating  ground  is  reached. 
This  chamber  may  be  constructed  in  a  similar  manner  to 
the  one  forming  part  of  Fig.  15,  which  will  be  referred  to 
later  in  this  chapter. 

When  a  straining  chamber  is  used  the  master  of  the 
house  must  make  "it  his  imperative  duty  to  see  that  it  is 
regularly  cleaned  out  about  every  second  or  third  day,  as 
in  that  time  decomposition  of  sewage  may  commence  and 
danger  arise. 

If  two  strainers  be  employed,  the  bars  of  the  one  nearest 
the  irrigating  ground  being  of  much  narrower  gauge  than 
the  other,  then  of  course  more  solid  matter  may  be  caught 
than  with  one  alone,  and  when  this  matter  is  very  offensive 
it  may,  when  scooped  out,  and  before  being  dug  into  the 
ground,  be  mixed  with  dry  earth,  which  will  be  found  a 
very  good  deodorizer.  The  small  amount  of  solid  refuse 
caught  by  the  strainers  in  two  or  three  days,  even  from  a 
large  mansion,  will  be  a  matter  of  surprise  to  many. 

The  shuttle  and  flap  valves  mentioned  above  are  not 
illustrated  here,  for  they  will  be  found  well  represented 
in  the  catalogue  (Figs.  8 — 11)  of  Messrs.  Henry  Doulton 
&  Co.,  who  make  them. 

The  method  of  sewage  disposal  known  as  sub-irrigation 
must  now  claim  attention. 


DISPOSAL    OF  SEWAGE. 


69 


Sub-irrigation  can  undoubtedly  be  best  employed  when 
there  is  only  liquid  sewage  to  be  dealt  with  from  cottages 
and  small  houses,  the  grease  and  fat  from  larger  dwellings 
being  found  to  soon  choke  the  irrigation  pipes,  and  if  such 
a  method  be  adopted  for  disposing  of  the  sewage  from  a 
large  mansion,  and  also  when  water-closets  are  used,  the 
sewage  should  be  strained  before  reaching  the  irrigating 
ground. 

The  process  of  sub-irrigation  is  somewhat  similar  to  the 
method  just  described  for  distributing  sewage  over  the 


FROM 


NOOSE 

9                 f 

h          f 

1         C 

h 

5 

L 

J         L 

I 

_j  —   ^ 

I 

. 

• 

. 

A 

A 

A 

A 

i 

FIG.  14. 

surface  of  the  ground,  only  of  course  the  branch  drains  are 
entirely  underneath  the  ground. 

A  flushing  tank  similar  to  the  one  shown  in  Fig.  5 
(Chap.  IV.)  should  be  placed  about  the  head  of  the  main 
house  drain,  and  the  liquid  sewage  discharged  from  it 
down  the  drain  and  through  the  syphon  trap  to  the 
irrigating  ground. 

When  this  is  reached  branch  drains,  as  shown  at  A,  Fig. 
14,  composed  of  "butt-joint "  pipes,  should  be  laid  with  a 
slight  fall  from  the  connecting  drain  about  9  in.  or  12  in. 
under  the  surface  of  the  ground. 

Chambers  marked  B,  Fig.  14,  may  be  constructed  at  the 


70        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

head  of  the  branch  drains  in  which  valves  are  situated  for 
the  purpose  of  directing  the  sewage  down  any  particular 
branch  drain  for  the  more  equal  distribution  of  the  sewage. 

Thus  the  sewage  being  forced  down  a  branch  drain  finds 
its  way  out  at  the  butt-joints,  floods  the  subsoil,  and  by 
capillary  attraction,  &c.,  feeds  the  vegetation. 

It  will  be  found,  however,  that  in  time  the  pipes  forming 
the  branch  drains  require  to  be  cleaned,  and  it  is  therefore 
wise  to  lay  them  on  a  permanent  bed,  which  may  be 
made  with  half-round  drain-tiles  laid  to  a  suitable  and 
slight  fall.  The  pipes  can  then  at  any  time  be  dug  up, 
cleaned  and  relaid  on  this  bed ;  but  if  a  permanent  bed  be 
laid,  it  will  hardly  be  found  necessary  to  remove  all  the 
pipes  for  cleansing,  as  a  few,  removed  at  intervals,  will 
admit  of  the  ones  left  having  a  rod  passed  through  them 
to  clear  them.  Of  course  there  is  the  objection  to  this 
system  of  disposal,  that  everything  is  not  well  in  sight, 
and  all  the  pipes  cannot  be  freely  and  readily  examined, 
and  the  danger  that  a  careless  householder  might  not 
have  the  subsoil  drains  frequently  enough  cleaned,  with 
the  result  that  they  may  choke  and  the  sewage  "  back-up  " 
through  the  syphon  trap  into  the  disconnecting  manhole. 

Sub-irrigation  is  most  adapted  to  residences  which  have 
not  sufficient  ground  attached  to  them  to  admit  of  surface 
irrigation  being  performed,  but  yet  have  more  than  abso- 
lutely entails  the  use  of  the  cesspool,  and  where  the  fall  of 
the  ground  will  not  admit  of  surface  irrigation. 

It  behoves  me  to  write  of  one  other  mode  of  surface 
disposal  which  has  been  much  practised  by  some  of  the 
civil  engineers  who  have  made  house  drainage  a  speciality. 

It  is  the  practice  of  discharging  sewage  over  an  irri- 
gating ground  laid  out  on  what  is  known  as  the  contour 
principle. 

The  sewage  passes  down  the  connecting  drain  from  the 


72        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

disconnecting  manhole,  and  just  before  reaching  the  irri- 
gating ground,  flows  into  a  receptacle  termed  a  sewage 
meter  tank  (see  Fig.  15),  which  is  really  nothing  more  or 
less  than  the  flushing  tank  shown  by  Fig.  5,  Chap.  IV., 
on  a  large  scale,  with  a  straining  chamber,  the  tank  being 
constructed  in  brickwork,  rendered  over  smoothly  inside 
with  cement ;  it  is,  therefore,  deemed  unnecessary  to 
again  explain  the  action  of  the  syphon.  When  the  sewage 
rises  to  about  the  level  shown  in  Fig.  15,  the  syphon 
acts  and  discharges  the  sewage  with  a  rush  to  the  irrigating 
ground. 

Referring  to  Fig.  16,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  pipe 
from  the  sewage  meter  tank  to  the  irrigating  ground 
enters  what  I  will  term,  to  facilitate  explanation,  a 
"  direction  chamber,"  in  which  the  sewage  may  be  directed 
either  by  the  use  of  paddle  valves  or  by  a  piece  of  turf  or 
a  little  clay,  either  to  the  right  or  left,  or  straightforward 
over  the  irrigating  ground.  The  necessity  for  being  able 
to  discharge  the  sewage  over  various  portions  of  an  irri- 
gating ground  is,  that  after  sewage  has  been  allowed  for 
some  time  to  flow  over  land  (even  when  it  does  so  inter- 
mittently, as  referred  to  hereafter),  it  may  become  too 
much  charged  with  sewage,  or  what  is  called  "sewage 
sick." 

By  Fig.  16  it  is  my  attempt  to  partially  illustrate  an 
imaginary  ground  laid  out  on  the  contoured  system,  which 
may  aid  explanation  of  the  following  text — 

A  piece  of  land  falling  away  slightly  from  the  "direction 
chamber  "  should  be  selected. 

The  engineer  should  then  "  range  "  a  straight  line  across 
the  ground,  being  a  production  of  the  centre  line  of  the 
drain  running  from  the  sewage  meter  tank  to  the  "  direc- 
tion chamber."  Lines  some  30  ft.  apart  should  be  set  out 
parallel  to  this  line,  and  lines  similarly  equi-distant  apart 


DISPOSAL  OF  SEWAGE.  73 

should  also  be  set  out  at  right  angles  to  the  above  line. 


FIG.  16. 


These  rectangular  lines  are  shown  by  the  faint  dotted  lines 


74        DEAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

in  Fig.  16.  Levels  should  then  be  taken  at  the  various 
points  of  bisection  of  these  several  lines. 

Thus  a  line  can  be  found  across  the  ground  at  practically 
one  level,  and  along  this  should  be  dug  a  sewage  carrier 
(a  grip  about  3  in.  deep  by  5  in.),  but  of  course  it  is  well 
that  it  should  have  a  scarcely  perceptible  fall  on  either 
side  away  from  the  drain,  so  that  the  sewage  can  just  flow 
along  the  carrier.  A  stop  can  be  placed  (a  lump  of  clay 
or  piece  of  turf  will  suffice)  at  any  point  along  a  carrier, 
and  the  flow  of  sewage  will  be  arrested  at  that  point,  and 
the  carrier  gradually  filling  will  overflow,  and  the  ground 
can  thus  have  the  sewage  more  equally  distributed  over 
it  down  to  the  next  carrier. 

It  is  a  most  difficult  task  to  explain  clearly  on  paper 
the  system  in  question,  and  I  must  claim  the  indulgence 
of  my  readers. 

It  will  be  seen  by  Fig.  16  that  the  first  carrier  (DD) 
nearest  the  "  direction  chamber  "  is  carried  along  at  the 
level  reading  51 '30  at  the  point  marked  A  on  the  line 
DD ;  thus  a  departure  up  the  ground  has  to  be  made  at 
the  point  B,  to  find  a  similar  reading  (or  nearly  so),  the 
actual  reading  at  this  point  being  too  small,  namely  49 '50, 
and  similarly  a  departure  down  the  ground  is  made  at  C 
to  find  the  proper  reading,  it  being  at  this  point  too  great. 

Carriers  may  be  dug  across  the  ground  about  the  points 
F  and  G,  and  that  portion  of  the  ground  brought  into  use, 
when  the  portion  nearer  the  "  direction  chamber  "  tends  to 
become  sewage  sick,  or  it  is  necessary  for  it  to  lie  fallow, 
&c.  A  carrier  should  be  cut  straight  across  the  ground 
to  H,  down  which  the  sewage  can  be  made  to  flow  from 
the  "  direction  chamber,"  and  directed  along  any  of  the 
carriers  situated  at  E,  F,  or  G. 

Agricultural  pipes  may  be  laid  a  foot  or  so  under  the 
irrigating  ground,  as  shown  in  Fig.  16,  to  enable  the 


DISPOSAL  OF  SEWAGE.  75 

sewage  to  be  more  rapidly  and  evenly  distributed  in  the 
ground. 

The  difference  between  the  two  methods  of  surface 
disposal  herein  described  is,  that  in  the  case  just  dealt 
with,  ground  that  is  nearly  flat  can  be  employed,  and  the 
distribution  is  intermittent,  whilst  in  the  former  case 
(Fig.  13)  the  ground  must  have  a  considerable  fall,  and 
although  intermittent  disposal  may  also  be  employed,  yet 
this  may  tend  to  force  the  sewage  too  rapidly  (considering 
the  severe  fall  generally  necessary  in  such  cases)  over 
the  ground,  with  the  result  that  the  bulk  of  it  rushes  to 
the  lowest  point  on  the  land,  without  having  effectually 
irrigated  the  highest  portions. 

In  the  case  of  the  contoured  ground,  the  sewage  is 
forced  over  the  ground  by  the  sewage  meter  tank,  and 
more  evenly  spread,  and  the  intermittent  action  of  the 
tank  admits  of  the  sewage  soaking  into  the  land,  and  the 
pores  of  the  soil  becoming  aerated;  for  otherwise  the 
pores  of  the  earth  might  become  clogged  by  the  sewage 
slime,  which,  forming  a  deposit  on  the  ground,  would 
prevent  nitrification,  and  lend  encouragement  to  putre- 
faction at  the  surface  of  the  ground. 

Thus  the  value  of  even  and  intermittent  distribution 
can  be  seen,  and  such  distribution  should  not  take  place 
oftener  than  once  a  day. 

Irrigation  grounds  should  be  planted  with  roots,  &c., 
that  have  a  tendency  to  rapid  absorption  of  liquids,  and 
osiers  will  be  found  to  imbibe  sewage  with  great  avidity, 
and  are  therefore  frequently  used. 

Of  course,  the  more  porous  the  soil  is  constituting  an 
irrigating  ground,  the  better ;  but  sometimes  land  practi- 
cally impervious  to  water,  such  as  clay,  is  only  available ; 
then  such  ground  should  be  dug  up  to  a  depth  of  a  few 
feet,  and  then  burned  and  broken  up,  which  will  enable 


76        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

the  sewage  to  get  away.  An  acre  of  land  will  be  found 
sufficient  to  act  as  an  irrigating  ground  for  a  very  large 
mansion  indeed. 

Thus  far  it  will  be  seen  that  it  is  most  desirable  that 
sewage  should  be  intermittently  distributed  over  a  light 
loamy  or  sandy  soil,  at  a  distance  of  some  hundreds  of 
yards  from  a  residence,  and  when  this  is  properly  done, 
experience  seems  to  show  that  there  is  no  danger  (or  little) 
of  a  nuisance  or  epidemic  being  caused  by  so  doing ;  but 
yet  the  greatest  care  must  be  taken  that  cattle  are  not 
allowed  to  eat  too  soon  of  herbage  which  has  been  fed 
with  sewage,  and  that  the  cabbage,  or  what  not,  similarly 
manured,  is  not  placed  on  the  table  till  a  suitable  time 
has  elapsed  since  sewage  was  distributed  on  the  ground 
where  it  has  been  grown. 

We  have  it  on  medical  authority  that  danger  may  arise 
from  the  consumption  by  cattle  of  vegetation  which  has 
been  flooded  with  sewage ;  for  instance,  in  the  case  of 
herbage  to  which  has  been  applied  sewage  containing 
fa3ces  from  a  patient  with  tape -worm,  danger  may 
exist. 

We  learn  that  a  man  suffering  from  tape-worm  evacu- 
ates thousands  of  ova  of  tape-worm  with  his  faeces,  and 
some  of  these  eggs  are  apt  to  stick  to  the  herbage,  and 
thus  be  eaten  by  a  bullock. 

In  course  of  time  every  ovum  consumed  by  the  bullock 
is  capable  of  creating  a  cyst  (raeasle)  in  the  flesh  of  the 
animal,  thereby  producing  measly  beef,  and  if  such  beef 
be  consumed  by  the  human  being  in  an  inefficiently  cooked 
condition,  each  cyst  is  liable  to  create  a  tape-worm  in  the 
human  body. 

It  would  thus  appear  that  the  question  to  be  solved  is, 
How  long  will  such  eggs  when  clinging  to  the  vegetation 
retain  their  germinating  power  ?  The  following  quotation 


DISPOSAL   OF  SEWAGE.  77 

is  from  the  translation  by  W.  E.  Hoyle,  M.A.,  M.R.C.S., 
&c.,  of  "The  Parasites  of  Man/'  by  Leuckart;  referring 
to  the  proglottides  (a  worm  consists  of  a  head  and  dozens 
of  proglottides,  each  proglottis  being  a  procreative 
segment  containing  thousands  of  ova,  and  capable  of 
breeding  such  ova),  he  writes : — 

"It  is  not  yet  possible  to  tell  how  long  this  potency 
can  be  retained ;  the  period  will  doubtless  vary  with  the 
environment;  while  Gerlach  was  able  to  infect  a  pig 
with  decaying  proglottides  of  tsBnia  solium  five  weeks 
old. 

"  In  an  experiment  I  made,  the  eggs  of  tsenia  coenurus 
had  lost  potency  after  lying  in  water  for  eight  weeks.1 
This  follows  more  rapidly  when  the  eggs  are  kept  dry. 
Haubner  reports  having  ineffectually  fed  a  sheep  with 
tape-worm  eggs  which  had  been  kept  dry  for  fourteen  and 
for  twenty-four  days,  and  I  have  had  similar  experi- 
ence in  which  eggs  exposed  to  an  August  sun  had  lost 
their  power  of  germinating  after  four  -  and  -  twenty 
hours." 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  from  the  foregoing  that 
dryness  and  heat  are  essential  to  the  effectual  and  ready 
decay  and  death  of  these  ova,  and  that  in  this  country, 
even  in  the  hottest  weather,  the  herbage  should  stand  at 
least  from  three  days  to  a  week  without  having  sewage 
administered  to  it  before  cattle  are  allowed  to  graze  on  it, 
and  in  the  colder  and  more  humid  months  at  least  three 
weeks  or  a  month ;  and  further,  it  can  be  gathered  that 
no  vegetables  (for  human  food)  should  be  fed  by  sewage, 
except  such  as  will  have  to  undergo  the  process  of 
cooking. 

1  Davaine,  on  the  other  hand,  asserts  that  he  has  "  kept  eggs  of 
tsenia  solium  and  taenia  serrata  in  water  for  years,  living  and  un- 
altered."—(Mem.  Soc.  Biolog.  t.  III.,  p.  272,  1862.) 


78        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

I  have  not,  in  this  article,  at  all  entered  into  the 
question  of  the  chemical  treatment  of  sewage,  for  it  is 
generally  accepted — in  the  case  of  house  drains  where 
there  is  no  public  sewer  to  receive  their  discharge — to  be 
unnecessary,  and  although  so  frequently  adopted  in  the 
disposal  of  the  sewage  collected  in  public  sewers,  I  believe 
I  may  add  that  the  fact  that  the  sewage  created  in  country 
mansions  may  be  distributed  over  land,  as  above  described, 
in  its  crude  state  (when  such  distribution  is  properly 
attended  to)  without  danger  or  nuisance,  is  established  by 
practical  experience. 

In  all  cases  where  possible,  the  disconnecting  manhole 
should  be  well  removed  from  the  house,  as  pointed  out 
in  an  earlier  chapter,  and  when  the  land  admits  of  it,  the 
irrigation  ground  (as  explained  in  this  chapter)  should  be 
several  hundred  yards  from  the  disconnecting  manhole, 
by  which  it  is  patent  a  great  length  of  "  connecting 
drain  "  is  entailed. 

This  connecting  drain  must  be  thoroughly  ventilated, 
and  should  have  along  its  length  "  inspection  manholes," 
situated  about  every  150  feet  (counting  from  the  "dis- 
connecting manhole"),  which  should  be  covered  with 
large  iron  gratings;  and  whenever  there  is  a  change  of 
direction,  a  turning  chamber  should  be  employed,  which 
may  be  similarly  covered  so  as  to  act  as  a  ventilator,  and 
practically  as  a  substitute  for  a  manhole  (see  earlier 
chapters). 

The  length  of  connecting  drain  between  the  syphon  trap 
and  the  first  of  these  inspection  manholes  or  turning 
chambers  should  be  ventilated  by  a  pipe  being  carried  up 
from  a  large  T  branch  (with  the  branch  vertically,  or 
nearly  so,  upwards),  situated  immediately  on  the  con- 
necting drain  side  of  the  syphon  trap.  This  pipe  should 
be  finished  off  a  little  above  the  ground  level  with  an 


DISPOSAL   OF  SEWAGE.  79 

iron  grating  of  an  open  area  rather  larger  than  the  area 
of  the  pipe.  Such  a  pipe  for  ventilation  should  also  be 
used,  in  a  similar  position  near  the  syphon  trap,  when  the 
connecting  drain  discharges  into  a  cesspool. 

I  cannot  close  this  article  without '  acknowledging  my 
great  indebtedness  to  Mr.  T.  Nichols,  Assistant  Director, 
and  Professor  Bell,  of  the  Natural  History  Museum,  for 
the  kind  assistance  and  courtesy  afforded  me  in  my 
research  into  the  question  of  parasites,  &c. 


CHAPTER  X. 

CONCLUSION. 

The  Preparation  of  Schemes  for  House  Drainage — Maxims — Rules 
for  Housekeepers. 

A  MORE  appropriate  title  for  this  chapter  would  be, 
perhaps,  "  Review,"  for  the  intention  herein  is  to  review 
shortly  what  has  already  been  written  in  the  preceding 
chapters,  in  order  that  certain  deductions  may  be  made 
as  to  some  of  the  more  salient  points  to  be  remembered. 

Both  text  and  illustrations  of  these  articles  must,  of 
course,  be  taken  to  a  great  extent  as  typical  only,  as  for 
different  buildings  the  organization  of  the  drainage  ar- 
rangements will  vary,  and  no  scheme  of  drainage  should 
be  prepared  without  the  aid  of  the  draughtsman. 

A  plan  should  always  be  prepared,  and  in  many  cases  a 
section  showing  the  fall  of  the  main  house  drain  is  of 
great  value. 

It  is,  I  believe,  very  often  the  custom  for  builders  to 
drain  a  house,  and  afterwards  prepare  a  plan,  showing 
what  has  been  done ;  but  how  much  better  a  scheme 
might  be  produced  if  a  plan  of  the  house  were  always 
consulted  and  a  project  designed  on  it  before  the  works 
were  commenced,  the  drainage  arrangements  being  pre- 
pared in  accordance  with  design  and  method  instead  of 
being  placed  in  any  position  hazarded  by  conjecture  at 
the  site,  and  suggested  by  the  false  conception  that  the 


CONCLUSION.  81 

"main  house  drain  can  be  very  well  laid  here,  and  a 
branch  drain  can  be  run  satisfactorily  there,"  &c. 

From  these  articles  certain  rules  may  be  gathered,  and 
the  following  maxims  founded  on  what  has  gone  before 
may  be  advantageously  followed. 

The  main  house  drain  should  always  be  carefully  "  dis- 
connected "  by  a  good  form  of  trap  from  the  public  sewer, 
irrigating  ground,  &c.  The  main  house  drain  and  all 
branch  drains  should  be  laid  in  absolutely  straight  lines, 
change  of  direction  being  effected  by  turning  chambers 
only.  The  soil  pipe  should  be  carried  up  as  a  ventilat- 
ing pipe  (and  of  one  area  throughout)  to  a  point  well 
removed  from  all  openings  in  the  house  or  its  roof, 
and  should  assume  when  completed  a  truly  vertical 
line,  if  possible. 

The  joints  of  all  pipes  should  be  air  and  water-tight, 
the  greatest  care  being  observed  that  all  superfluous 
cement  is  wiped  out  from  the  barrel  of  the  pipes  in  the 
case  of  joints  made  with  cement. 

A  fresh  air  inlet  should  be  situated  in  connection  with 
the  main  house  drain,  on  the  house  side  of  the  trap  which 
"disconnects"  the  house  drains  from  public  sewer,  &c., 
and  it  should  be  fixed  near  this  trap,  so  that  fresh  air 
may  flow  through  the  entire  length  of  the  main  house 
drain  and  up  the  soil  and  ventilating  pipes  which  form  a 
foul  air  outlet. 

w.c.'s  are  preferable  that  retain  water  in  the  basin,  for 
the  reception  of  a  discharge  from  an  user. 

A  good  form  of  trap  should  be  fixed  immediately  under 
every  w.c.  Urinals  and  housemaid's  slop  sinks  should 
never  be  fixed,  if  it  is  possible  conveniently  to  do  without 
them,  and  when  fixed  should  always  be  properly  trapped, 
the  latter  being  treated  as  if  a  w.c.  Waste  pipes  of  sinks, 

G 


82        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

baths,  and  lavatories  should  be  as  short  as  possible,  and 
suitably  trapped. 

All  branch  drains  should  be  trapped  at  their  head  by 
a  good  form  of  trap. 

Cisterns  should  be  fixed  so  that  they  can  be  easily 
examined  or  cleaned  out,  and  should  be  carefully  covered. 

Stable  floors  should  have  channels,  with  loose  covers, 
laid  in  the  flooring,  and  these  channels  should  be  capable 
of  being  flushed,  the  flush  passing  to  a  trapped  branch 
drain,  the  trap  of  which  should  be  situated,  when  possible, 
outside  the  stables. 

If  a  cesspool  is  used,  it  should  be  smaller  at  the  top 
than  at  the  base,  and  should  be  capable  of  receiving  only 
two  or  three  days'  sewage  discharge  from  the  residence. 
The  connecting  drain  from  the  trap  at  the  disconnecting 
manhole  to  the  irrigating  ground  or  cesspool  (when  there 
is  no  public  sewer  to  receive  the  sewage)  should  be  well 
ventilated. 

As  few  sanitary  appliances  as  possible  should  be  fixed 
in  a  house,  consistently  with  convenience. 

Holders  of  residences  drained  on  the  principles  advo- 
cated in  these  chapters  should  see  that  the  housekeeper 
observes  the  following  rules : — 

"  Once  a  week  the  brass  plugs  of  all  sinks  and  lavatories 
should  be  placed  in  the  sockets,  and  the  sinks  and  lava- 
tories filled  with  water ;  the  plugs  should  then  be  with- 
drawn, so  that  a  good  flush  can  pass  through  the  waste 
pipes  and  traps  of  the  sinks  and  lavatories  in  order  to 
scour  them. 

"  The  bath  should  also  be  filled  up  with  water,  which 
should  then  be  released,  with  a  similar  object  in 
view. 

"  The  basins  of  all  w.c.'s  should  be  cleaned  daily,  and 


CONCLUSION. 


83 


PI  ffflL- 

ig  If  if 11 i 


IH««j».|l, 

T    °fii 


84        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

the  underside  of  all  w.c.  seats  scrubbed  once  a  week.  No 
refuse  should  be  deposited  about  the  premises  except  in 
the  dust-hole,  and  all  vegetable  refuse  should  as  far  as 
possible  be  burnt  in  the  kitchen  range.  The  dust-hole 
should  be  regularly  emptied  every  few  days. 

"A  good  contractor  should  be  employed  periodically 
(at  intervals  of  six  months  at  least)  to  generally  clean 
the  manholes,  syphon  and  gully  traps,  &c.,  sweep  the 
drains,  &c.  Also  to  remove  the  inspection  cap  of  sink 
and  bath  traps,  and  clear  such  traps,  and  to  coat  the  dust- 
hole  internally  (unless  of  iron,)  with  neat  lime  mixed  with 
water.  Further  to  clear  out  all  cisterns  at  least  once  a 
year,  though  preferably  oftener." 

In  the  past  it  has  often,  I  believe,  been  the  practice 
of  architects  to  design  a  house  completely,  without  any 
regard  having  been  bestowed  on  the  drainage  arrangements, 
and  when  the  carcass  has  been  completed,  or  nearly  so, 
then  the  consideration  of  the  drainage  arrangements  has 
been  entered  upon,  and  the  result  is  that  the  soil  pipe  has 
but  rarely  formed  the  head  of  the  drain,  as  it  should  do. 
w.c.'s  have  been  placed  in  any  convenient  position  left 
by  the  previous  situation  of  other  rooms,  and  generally 
the  architect  has  said  with  regard  to  the  drainage  arrange- 
ments— "  Oh  !  here  is  an  excellent  place  for  a  w.c.,  a 
lavatory  can  be  fitted  here,  and  then  we  can  put  the 
housemaid's  sink  in  that  corner,"  &c.  &c. 

In  the  designing  of  a  house,  one  of  the  first  thoughts 
of  an  architect,  after  having  found  the  suitable  plot  of 
ground,  and  the  class  and  plan  of  house  having  been 
roughly  decided  on,  should  be  as  to  how  the  proper 
drainage  may  be  effected.  A  well-designed  house  should 
have  its  drainage  arrangements  so  disposed  that  the  soil 
and  ventilating  pipes  form  the  head  of  the  drain,  and  the 


CONCLUSION.  85 

main  house  drain  should  be  as  straight  as  possible,  and 
the  branch  drains  as  short  as  can  be,  the  w.c.'s  being 
situated  so  that  two  of  the  walls  are  two  of  the  external 
walls  of  the  house. 

Fig.  17  gives  a  hypothetical  scheme  of  drainage,  in 
which  it  will  be  seen  that  a  fresh  current  of  air  can  freely 
pass  through  the  main  house  drain  and  up  the  soil  and 
ventilating  pipes. 

It  will  be  seen  in  this  particular  case  a  change  of 
direction  has  been  made  in  the  main  house  drain,  and 
this  is  done  in  order  to  illustrate  the  use  of  the  turning 
chamber. 

It  will  be  observed  that  every  branch  drain  can  be  easily 
and  freely  examined,  arid  that  every  w.c.  is  situated  so 
that  two  of  its  walls  are  two  of  the  external  walls  of  the 
building  in  which  it  is  placed. 

The  diagram  will,  I  think,  in  most  other  respects  be 
self-explanatory,  in  connection  with  the  reference. 

Little  more  is  left  for  me  to  add ;  to  one  fact,  however, 
not  generally  recognized,  attention  should,  perhaps,  be 
drawn,  this  fact  being  that  it  is  not  so  much  the  endeavour 
of  specialists  in  house-drainage  to  do  away  with  the  foul 
gases  generated  in  sewers,  &c.,  as  it  is  to  render  such  gases 
as  innocuous  as  possible ;  for  as  long  as  nature  produces 
sewage  matter,  foul  gases  will  emanate  therefrom. 

In  these  chapters  it  has  been  my  chief  object  to  point 
out  what  should  be  done,  rather  than  what  has  been  done 
so  badly  in  the  past.  Those  who  are  desirous  of  learning 
defects  in  house-drainage  arrangements,  will  consult  with 
advantage  the  excellent  pictorial  guide,  Dangers  to  Health, 
by  Mr.  T.  Pridgin  Teale,  M.A.,  Surgeon  to  the  Leeds 
Infirmary,  which  as  regards  defects  proper  is  admirable, 
and  from  practical  experience  (although  I  have  not,  per- 


86        DRAINAGE  OF  HABITABLE  BUILDINGS. 

haps,  met  personally  with  quite  all  the  examples  given 
by  him),  I  can  quite  believe  every  case  is  truthful  and 
unexaggerated. 

In  closing  these  chapters,  I  trust  that  those  whose  eye 
they  meet  will  say  with  me,  "Quod  erat  faciendum/'  and 
I  would  that  I  could  say,  "  Quod  erat  demonstrandum." 


INDEX. 


AMMONIACAL  gas,  5 
Annular  syphon  (Field's),  26 
Anti-"D"  trap,  45 
Area,  25,  46,  52,  53,  54,  79 
Arteries,  4 

Atmosphere,  3,  4,  5,  10 
Auricle,  4 

Automatic  flushing,  19,  25,  26  sqq., 
44,  60 

Bacilli,  7 

Ball-cock,  41 

Balloon,  33 

Basin,  36,  37,  38,  39,  40,  43,  49,  82 

Bath,  34,  49,  52,  55,  82,  84 

Batt,  37,  38 

Bell-trap,  46 

Bend-pipe,  22,  48,  50 

Bi-carburetted  hydrogen,  5 

Blockage,  22 

Blood,  4,  6  ;  blood-poisoning,  1 

Branch  drain,  14,  57,  66,  67,  70, 

82,  85 
Butler's  sink,  46,  47 

Capillaries,  4,  70 

Carbon,  4 

Carbonic  acid,  3,  5,  6 

Carburetted  hydrogen,  5 

Carrier  (sewage),  74 

Cast-iron  pipes,  21,  28,  30,  31,  50 

Cement,  12, 13, 19, 21,  57,  64,  66,  81 

Cesspool,  7,  8,  21,  36,  62,  63,  64, 

66,  70,  79,  82 

Chambers,  14,  23,  59,  68,  69,  72 
Channel,  12,  14,  16,  20,  22,  23,  57, 

58,  59,  60,  82 


Cholera,  2 

Cistern,  41,  42,  44,  54,  58,  82,  84 

Closet,  25,  35,  36 

Coach-house,  58 

Cock,  41,  42,  58 

Concrete,  12,  21,  57,  64 

Connecting  drain,  13,  18,  64,  65, 

66,  67,  69,  70,  78,  82 
Connecting  soil-pipe,  31,  32,  35,  44 
Container,  36 
Contour,  72,  73 
Cover  (air-tight),  13,  22,  82 
Cowl,  33 
Cradle,  22 
Cuticle,  4 
Cyst,  76 

Diameter,  14,  15,  24,  32,  36,  39,  41 
Diffusion  of  gases,  6 
Diphtheria,  2 
Dip-trap,  48 

Direction  chamber,  72,  74 
"D"  trap,  36 
Discharge,  14,  25,  79,  81 
Disconnecting  manhole,  8  sqq. ,  14, 
15,  16,  17,  18,  22,  57,  59,  70,  78 
Disposal  of  sewage,  61  sqq. 
Dust-bin,  54,  55,  84 

Earthenware,  8,  11,  12,  19,  25,  28, 

47 

Eaves,  32 
Excavation,  18 
Excreta,  5 

Fall,  19,  24,  25,  28,  58,  67 
Flange,  37 


88 


INDEX. 


Flap,  39,  52 

Flap-trap,  24 

Float  indicator,  63,  64 

Flush,  15,  16,  57,  58 

Flushing  rim,  37,  43 

Formula,  25 

Fresh  air  inlet,  9,  10,  22,  81 

Gases  (diffusion  of),  6 
Gauge,  68 
Germs,  7 

Glazed  stoneware  sink,  47 
Grating,  47,  48,  66,  78 
Grease,  68 
Grilles,  66 

Gully  trap,  43,  44,  46,  47,  48,  49, 
53,  57,  58,  59,  84 

Heart,  4 

Herbage,  67,  68,  76,  77 

Hopper,  48,  50 

Horses,  56,  58,  60 

House  drain,  8,  9,  10,  13,  14,   17, 

18  sqq.t  21,  22,  23,  25,  34,   44, 

56,  57,  81 

Housemaid's  sink,  47,  53,  81 
Hydrogen,  4 

Improved  hopper  closet,  37 
Inlet  (fresh  air)  9,  10,  22,  81 
Inspection  branch,  13,  24,  84 
Inspection  manhole,  78 
Iron  pipe,  21,  28,  30,  31,  50 
Irrigation,  62,  66,  68,  69,  70,  75 
Irrigation  tanks,  7,  8 

Joint,  6,  12,  13,  19,  23,  24,  29,  30, 
31,  32,  37,  41,  69,  81 

Lavatory,  34,  41  sqq.,  44,  49,  50, 

53,  81,  82 

Lead,  28,  31,  32,  39,  47,  52 
Levels,  74    - 
Lever,  37,  41,  42 
Lime,  22,  54 
Long  hopper  closet,  36 
Lungs,  4 

Main  house  drain,  17,  56,  57,  81,  85 

Manhole,  8  sqq.,  13,  14,  15,  16,  22, 

23,  44,  57,  59,  70,  78,  79,  84 


Marsh  gas,  5 
Mortar,  57,  64 

Nitrogen,  3,  4,  5,  6 

Olefiant  gas,  5 

Opercular  channel,  23,  44,  57,  59 

Ova,  76,  77 

Overflow,  38,  39,  42,  52,  53,  64 

Oxygen,  3,  4,  5,  6 

Parasites,  76 

Pan  closet,  35,  36 

Pipe  (glazed  stoneware  drain),  19, 

21 
Pipe  (overflow),  38,  39,  42,  50,  53, 

62,  64 
Pipe  (supply),  39,  40,  53,  58 

,,     (warning),  39,  42,  50 

,,     (waste),  89,  44,  46,  47,  49,  50, 

52,  53,  81 
Plug,  47,  50,  82 
Pollution  of  rivers,  62 
"P"  trap,  29,  31,  32,  34,  36,  37, 

39,  43,  45 
Putty  37 

Rain-water  pipe,  34,  49,  50,  51,  53 

Rats,  24,  29 

Residue,  66 

Respiration,  4 

Rivers  (pollution  of),  62 

Riser,  40 

Rod,  13,  18,  70 

Safe,  37,  38,  39,  40,  44,  46,  52 

Sal  ammoniac,  31 

Scarlet  fever,  2 

Scullery  sink,  46,  47 

Sea  (atmospheric),  3 

Seal,  12,  27,  38,  46,  47 

Sewage  (carrier),  74 

Sewage  (disposal  of),  61  sqq. 

Sewage  meter  tank,  7,  8,  70,  71,  72 

Sewage  sick,  72 

Sewer,  7,  8,  10,  17,  18,  25,  54,  56, 

81 
Sink,  14,  25,  34,  43,  46,  47,  81,  82, 

84 

Slop-sink,  40,  41,  43,  45,  46,  81 
Socket,  11,  19,  22,  30,  47,  50 


INDEX. 


89 


Soil  pipe,  6,  9,  10,  14,  22,  26,  27, 

28,  29,  30,  31,  34,   35,   38,   39, 

40,  43,  44,  81,  84 
Spigot,  11,  19,  30,  50 
"S"  trap,  34,  37,  45 
Stables,  56,  57  sqq.t  60,  82 
Stall,  57,  58,  59 
Stanford  joint,  19 
Stoneware  channel,  12, 14,  16,  22,  23 
Stoneware  cradle,  22 
Stoneware  sinks  (glazed),  47 
Stoneware  syphon  trap,  8 
Stop-cock,  42,  58 
Stoppage,  25 

Straining  chamber,  66,  68 
Sub-irrigation,  68,  70 
Sulphuretted  hydrogen,  5,  6 
Sump,  62 
Syphonage,  24,  26 
Syphon  trap,   7,   8,  9,   11,  12,   13, 

14,  15,   16,   17,  22,  24,  34,  38, 

43,  47,  57,  70,  78,  84 
Syphon  (annular),  12,  26 

Tank,  7,  8,  26,  27,  28,  62,  69,  72 

Tape-worm,  76,  77 

Test,  23 

Trapping  box,  26,  27 

"Turning  chamber,"  23,  44,  78 

Typhoid,  2 


Urea,  5 

Uric  acid,  5 

Urinal,  40,  41,  43  sqq.,  81 

Vacuum,  9,  26 

Valve,  35,  37,  38 

Valve  closet,  35,  36,  37,  38,  39,  52, 

67,  70 
Valve  (flap),  24,  67,  68 

„     (paddle),  72 

„     (shuttle),  67,  68 
Vapour  (watery),  3,  5 
Vegetable,  5 
Velocity,  18,  25,  27 
Ventilating  pipes,  10,  14,  18,  26, 

30,  31,  32,  33,  51,  81,  84,  85 
Ventilation,  6,  10,  32,  41,  85 
Ventricle,  4 

Warning-pipe,  39,  42 

Waste-pipe,  39,  43,  44,  46,  47,  49, 

52,  53,  81,  82 
Weir,  26 
Well,  64 
W.C.,  29,  34,  37,  38,  39,  43,  44,  52 

sqq.,  81,  85 
Wood,  28 

Zinc,  28 
Zymotic,  7 


Richard  Clay  &  Sons,  Limited,  London  &  Bungay. 


YB   10932 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


